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THE    ALL    RED    SERIES 


THE    UNION   OF 
SOUTH    AFRICA 


UNIFORM  WITH  THIS   VOLUME 

THE  "ALL  RED  "  SERIES 

Each  volume  is  in  demy  8vo,   cloth   gilt, 
with  full-page  plate  illustrations,  map,  etc. 


THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF  AUSTRALIA. 
By  the  HON.  BERNHARD  RINGROSE  WISE 
(formerly  Attorney-General  of  New  South 
Wales). 

THE  DOMINION  OF  NEW  ZEALAND. 
By  SIR  ARTHUR  P.  DOUGLAS,  Bt.,  formerly 
Under-Secretary  for  Defence,  New 
Zealand,  and  previously  a  Lieutenant, 
R.N. 

THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA.  By  W.  L. 
GRIFFITH,  Secretary  to  the  Office  of  the 
High  Commissioner  for  Canada. 

THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  Their 
History,  Resources,  and  Progress.  By 
ALGERNON  E.  ASPINALL,  Secretary  of  the 
West  India  Committee. 


Other  Volumes  in  preparation. 


THE  UNION  OF 
SOUTH  AFRICA 


WITH    CHAPTERS    ON    RHODESIA 

AND   THE   NATIVE   TERRITORIES 

OF  THE  HIGH  COMMISSION 


BY 

W.  BASIL  WORSFOLD 

Sometime  Editor  of  "The  Johannesburg  Star" 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 
1913 


1^ 


NOTE 

FOR  the  gift  or  loan  of  official  papers,  used  in  the  pre- 
paration of  this  book,  the  author  desires  to  express  his 
grateful  thanks  to  the  High  Commissioner  for  the  Union 
of  South  Africa  (The  Hon.  Sir  Richard  Soloman,  G.C.M.G.) 
and  J.  R.  Stopford,  Esq.,  of  the  High  Commissioner's 
Office  ;  the  British  South  Africa  Company  ;  the  Rhodes 
Trustees  ;  the  Central  Mining  and  Investment  Corpo- 
ration, Ltd. ;  and  the  Town  Clerk  of  Johannesburg 
(J.  Taylor,  Esq.). 


258618 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PART  I 
THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.      PHYSICAL  CHARACTERISTICS 1 

II.      THE  NATIVE  RACES 18 

III.  THE  SEMITIC  OCCUPATIONS 47 

IV.  EUROPEAN  COLONISATION — PORTUGAL      IN 

AFRICA 62 

V.      THE  DUTCH  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY    ....      77 
VI.       SOUTH  AFRICA  UNDER  BRITISH  RULE     ...      99 

PART   II 
THE   GOVERNMENT 

I.      THE  UNION  CONSTITUTION 119 

II.      THE  PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATIONS  ....    147 

III.  FINANCIAL        AND       ADMINISTRATIVE 

REORGANISATION 154 

IV.  THE  SUPREME  COURT  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA      .       .    166 

PART   III 

RHODESIA  AND  THE  NATIVE  TERRITORIES 
OF   THE   HIGH   COMMISSION 

I.      RHODESIA 171 

II.      SOUTHERN  RHODESIA 193 

III.      THE   NATIVE  TERRITORIES  .    207 


viii  CONTENTS 

PART    IV 
INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.      THE   LABOUR   SUPPLY 225 

II.  TRANSPORT  AND   COMMUNICATIONS  .       .       .       .251 

III.      THE   MINES 279 

IV.  AGRICULTURE  AND   STOCK-RAISING    ....    332 

V.      TRADE   AND   COMMERCE 372 

PART   V 
POLITICAL   AND    SOCIAL   CONDITIONS 

I.      FINANCE  AND  TAXATION 389 

II.      LOCAL       GOVERNMENT        AND         MUNICIPAL 

DEVELOPMENT 414 

III.  LAW,   ORDER,  AND  DEFENCE 438 

IV.  EDUCATION 457 

V.      IMMIGRATION,    LAND    SETTLEMENT,    AND    COST 

OF  LIVING 487 

VI.      SOCIAL    AND     INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT     .    503 
INDEX  .     521 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT,  CAPETOWN    .      .   .          Frontispiece 

facing 

Page 

THE  ZWARTBERG  PASS 4 

THE  VICTORIA  FALLS 16 

THE  VICTORIA  FALLS  STATION      .  .  .  .172 

THE   ALAN  WILSON  MEMORIAL       .  .  .  .  .176 

THE    GRAVE  OF  RHODES       .  .  .  .  .  .190 

THE   VICTORIA  FALLS  BRIDGE 192 

A  RHODESIAN   HOTEL 198 

THE   KIMBERLEY  SIEGE  MEMORIAL         ....      290 
WASHING  DIAMONDIFEROUS  EARTH,  DUTOITSPAN    .  .      292 

TURNING    THE    FIRST     SOD     FOR    THE    FOUNDATION     OF 

SIMMER    DEEP    MILLS 308 

SURFACE  WORKS   OF   SIMMER  DEEP  GOLD   MINE      .  .310 

FOUNDATION   BLOCKS   (CONCRETE   UNDER  STAMPS)  .      312 

SLIMES    TANKS  ........      316 

STAMP  MILL,  VILLAGE  DEEP  .....      318 

COMPOUND,   LANGLAAGTE  DEEP    .....      328 

TYPICAL  CORN  FIELD 336 

AN  ANGORA  GOAT 340 

A  PAIR  OF  OSTRICHES 342 

SUGAR  CANE 350 

FRUIT  DRYING  .  356 

RISSIK  ST.,  JOHANNESBURG,  IN   1905       .  .  .  .      426 

THE  CORNER  HOUSE,  JOHANNESBURG,  IN   1905          .  .      428 

BEDFORD   FARM   IN   1904  518 


THE    UNION    OF    SOUTH 
AFRICA 


PART   I 
THE    LAND   AND   THE    PEOPLE 


CHAPTER   I 

PHYSICAL   CHARACTERISTICS 

THE  late  war  and  its  beneficent  sequel,  the  regaining  of  the 
lost  solidarity  of  the  European  communities,  have  made 
the  words  "  South  Africa "  familiar  to  the  English- 
speaking  world,  but  it  is  none  the  less  necessary  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  two  obvious  meanings  of  the  name. 
As  a  geographical  term,  then,  South  Africa  is  generally 
understood  to  cover  that  part  of  the  continent  of  Africa 
which  lies  southward  of  the  line  formed  by  the  river 
Zambezi  and  the  northern  boundary  of  German  South- 
West  Africa.  PoliticaUy,  the  term  is  usually  identified 
with  British  South  Africa ;  that  is  to  say,  with  Africa 
south  of  the  Zambezi,  excluding  the  German  and  Portu- 
gese territories  lying  respectively  on  the  west  and  east 
coasts.  South  Africa  in  this  sense — the  sense  in  which 
it  will  be  used  in  this  book — has  an  area  of  rather  less 
than  a  million  square  miles,  and  a  mixed  European  and 
coloured  population  of  7,500,000  ;  and  it  to-day  comprises 
(1)  The  Union  of  South  Africa,  (2)  the  Native  Protec- 
torates or  Territories  not  yet  placed  under  the  Union 
Government,  and  (3)  Southern  Rhodesia.  Beyond  the 
Zambezi  are  Northern  Rhodesia  and  the  Central  African 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Protectorate,  or  British  Nyassaland,  still  British  ter- 
ritory, but  geographically  and  politically  distinct  from 
South  Africa,  and  separated  only  by  some  500  miles  of 
foreign  territory  from  another  British  system  formed  by 
Uganda,  British  East  Africa,  the  Soudan,  and  Egypt. 
Thanks  to  the  genius  of  Rhodes,  the  railway  has  been 
carried  northward  from  Capetown  throughout  British 
South  and  Central  Africa,  and  to-day  it  penetrates  beyond 
the  boundary  of  Northern  Rhodesia  for  100  miles  into  the 
Congo  Free  State — soon  to  be  connected  by  rail,  or  steam- 
ships on  the  Great  Lakes,  with  the  southward  extension 
of  the  Soudanese  railways,  and  link  up  Capetown  with 
Cairo. 

The  first  impression  given  by  the  atlas,  when  we  find 
South  Africa  on  the  map  of  the  world,  must  be  modified 
in  one  important  particular.  Africa,  as  we  see,  lies 
right  across  the  Equator,  and  it  spreads  a  far  larger  pro- 
portion of  its  total  area  between  the  tropics  than  does 
any  other  continent.  Even  a  third  of  South  Africa  lies 
within  the  tropic  of  Capricorn.  But  Africa,  thus  dis- 
tinctively the  tropical  continent,  has  a  high  average 
elevation.  It  is  equal  in  this  respect  to  Asia,  which  holds 
the  greatest  masses,  and  the  loftiest  summits,  of  the 
mountains  of  the  world  ;  and  it  is  twice  as  high  as  Aus- 
tralia, one-third  higher  than  Europe,  and  nearly  one- 
third  higher  than  America,  North  and  South.  And 
since  elevation  is  a  factor  of  great  importance  in  climate — 
it  has  been  calculated  that  for  every  100  feet  we  ascend 
the  temperature  drops  one  degree1 — it  is  obvious  that 
the  high  average  elevation  of  Africa  must  largely  modify 
the  climatic  conditions  which  its  geographical  position 
alone  would  give  to  it  as  a  whole  ;  while  it  renders  quite 
untrustworthy  any  estimate  of  the  relative  commercial 
and  political  value  of  its  several  regions,  which  is  based 

1  The  barometer  also  falls  1  in.  for  every  1,000  ft.  above 
sea-level. 

2 


CLIMATE 

merely  upon  a  comparison  of  their  respective  distances 
from  the  equator.  This  applies  especially  to  the  southern- 
most portion  of  the  Continent.  Lying,  as  it  does,  between 
latitudes  16  and  35  south  of  the  Equator — the  latitudes 
which,  north  of  the  Equator,  enclose  distinctively  tropical 
places,  ranging  from  Cuba,  Khartum,  Bombay,  and  Hong- 
Kong  on  the  south,  to  New  Orleans,  the  Bermudas, 
Tunis,  Cairo,  Jerusalem  and  Shanghai  on  the  north — 
visited  by  the  rain-bearing  monsoon  winds,  and  washed, 
on  its  eastern  coast,  by  the  warm  currents  of  the  Indian 
Ocean,  South  Africa  should  be  a  country  of  tropical  and 
sub-tropical  lands,  with  a  hot,  moist  air,  a  cloudy  sky, 
an  abundant  rainfall,  and  a  luxuriant  growth  of  tree  and 
plant.  In  point  of  fact  it  is  this  for  only  a  fraction  of  its 
area — the  Eastern  littoral  between  Delagoa  Bay  and 
East  London,  the  north-east  of  the  Transvaal,  and  the 
eastern  borderland  of  Rhodesia.  Elsewhere  the  condi- 
tions natural  to  a  country  thus  relatively  near  to  the 
Equator  are  largely  modified  or  altogether  absent.  Not 
only  is  the  sun's  heat  diminished  by  the  high  average 
elevation  of  the  inland  regions,  and  tempered  by  the  cool 
winds  and  ocean  currents  that,  uninterrupted  by  any 
land,  reach  the  low-lying  western  districts  from  the 
Antarctic  zone,  but  the  great  mountain  masses,  lying  in 
close  proximity  to  the  east  coast,  intercept  with  their 
steep  eastern  escarpments  the  monsoon  winds,  causing 
them  to  precipitate  most  of  their  moisture  before  they 
pass  over  the  great  Central  plateau  ;  and  thus  three- 
fourths  of  South  Africa  is  left  with  a  brilliant  sky,  a 
spasmodic  rather  than  insufficient  rainfall,  and  a  sparse 
and  scanty  vegetation. 

Turning  now  from  the  map  of  the  world  to  that  of 
South  Africa  itself,  we  notice,  first,  the  disposition  of 
the  great  mountain  masses,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
determines  more  than  any  other  single  feature  its  phy- 
sical characteristics.  From  the  Limpopo  southward, 

3 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

they  lie  to  the  east,  and  run  at  distances  varying  from 
200  to  50  miles,  in  a  succession  of  ranges  roughly  parallel 
to  the  east  and  southern  coasts.  At  the  south-west 
corner  of  the  Continent,  where  is  the  actual  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  lesser  ranges  rise  northward  with  a  westerly  trend 
that  keeps  them  also  relatively  near  to  the  opposite,  or 
western,  coast  line.  Of  the  eastern  ranges  the  loftiest 
and  the  longest  is  the  Drakenberg,  which  forms  the 
eastern  escarpment  of  the  Transvaal  and  Free  State 
provinces,  and  culminates  in  Basutoland  with  its  almost 
Alpine  grandeurs  of  snowy  peak  and  rushing  torrent. 
Westward  of  the  great  ranges  the  land  slopes  gently  to 
the  central  table-lands,  and  then  declines  to  sandy  plains  ; 
eastward  it  falls  abruptly  to  the  coast  in  terraces,  the 
sides  of  which  are  formed  by  lesser  ranges.  The  rain- 
bearing  winds  come  from  the  east  and  the  south,  and 
hence  the  marked  difference  in  the  character  of  the  country 
east  and  west  of  the  watershed.  Westward  the  land  is 
dry  and  vegetation  is  sparse  ;  but  the  land  about  the 
ranges  themselves,  and  the  terrace  lands  eastward  to  the 
coast,  are  clad  luxuriously  with  tree  and  herbage. 

From  this  relative  proximity  of  the  great  mountain 
masses  to  the  east  and  south  coasts,  taken  together  with 
the  high  average  elevation  of  South  Africa  inland,  there 

.  emerge  two  significant  facts.  First,  the  climate  improves 
as  we  advance  inland  from  the  coast ;  and  second,  the 
rivers  of  South  Africa  are,  with  rare  exceptions,  singularly 

•  useless  for  the  purposes  either  of  navigation  or  irrigation. 
The  great  central  plateau  which  stretches  from  the 
valley  of  the  Zambezi  on  the  north  to  the  coastal  ranges 
of  the  Cape  province  in  the  south,  has  an  average  eleva- 
tion of  no  less  than  4,000  feet ;  and  while  from  the  Zambezi 
to  the  Limpopo  it  slopes  downwards  from  west  to  east, 
at  the  valley  of  the  Limpopo  it  changes  the  direction  of 
its  tilt,  and  from  this  point  southwards  it  slopes  from  east 
to  west.  From  the  Limpopo  to  the  Cape  the  ranges 

4 


THE    ZWARTBERG   PASS    IN    THE    CAPE    COLONY 


RIVERS    AND    PLAINS 

that  form  the  watershed  run  near  the  east  and  south-east 
coasts.  East  and  south  of  the  dividing  ranges,  therefore, 
the  rivers  descend  precipitously  over  the  broken  land  that 
separates  the  watershed  from  the  sea.  Westward  the 
Orange,  and  its  tributaries  the  Vaal  and  Modder,  flow 
with  longer  courses  and  less  abrupt  descents  ;  but  while 
they  fling  great  volumes  of  water  down  to  the  sea  during 
the  few  rainy  months,  for  the  rest  of  the  year  they  sleep 
in  shallow  reaches,  or  trickle  in  narrow  streams  through 
the  sand  and  pebbles  of  their  mile-wide  beds.  Northward, 
where  the  central  plateau  changes  its  tilt,  the  Limpopo, 
the  Sabi,  the  Pungwe,  and  the  Zambezi  flow  from  west 
to  east  with  longer  courses  and  easy  descents,  but  the 
low-lying  districts  of  Mozambique  through  which  they 
flow  are  infested  with  insects  injurious  to  man  and  beast, 
and  with  the  exception  of  the  Zambezi,  these  rivers  also 
are  useless  for  navigation.  The  Karoos  of  the  Cape, 
the  table-lands  of  the  Free  State,  the  high  veld  of  the 
Transvaal  and  the  uplands  of  Rhodesia  vary  in  altitude 
from  1,000  to  7,000  feet  above  sea  level,  and  this  high 
elevation  both  tempers  the  heat  of  the  sun's  rays  and 
increases  their  life-giving  properties.  As  the  area  covered 
by  the  coastal  belts  and  the  mountain  ranges  is  relatively 
small,  a  dry  and  stimulating  air,  bright  sunshine,  little 
rain,  constant  and  boisterous  winds,  and  a  moderate 
temperature,  seldom  much  warmer  than  an  English 
summer  or  much  colder  than  an  English  spring,  are  the 
qualities  that  give  the  climate  of  South  Africa  its  dis- 
tinctive character.  The  forests  of  the  Knysna,  the 
coast  lands  of  Natal  warmed  by  the  Mozambique  current, 
the  sub-tropical  valleys  of  the  mountainous  regions 
of  the  north-east  Transvaal,  have  each  their  seasons  of 
dry  weather  and  moderate  temperature,  when  the  rich 
luxuriance  of  their  vegetation  may  be  enjoyed, 
but  it  is  the  veld,  the  wind-swept,  grey-green  sea  of 
heaving  uplands,  with  its  wide  horizon  and  its  glittering 

5 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

lights,  that  pictures  South  Africa  to  the  eyes  of  her  adopted 
sons. 

Nearly  twenty  years  ago  I  wrote  of  the  veld.  Since 
then  I  have  visited,  with  pencil  in  hand,  the  high  veld 
of  the  Transvaal,  the  Matopos,  and  the  uplands  of 
Mashonaland  ;  but  I  do  not  think  I  can  improve  upon 
this  record  of  my  earliest  impressions  of  South  Africa, 
received  now  nearly  thirty  years  ago : 

Once  beyond  the  barrier  ranges,  the  undulating  plains  spread 
on  every  side  desolate  and  illimitable.  The  surface  of  the  earth 
is  broken  only  by  rounded  and  flat-topped  masses,  hills  with  the 
contour  of  mountains,  weird  distortions  which  serve  only  to 
confuse  the  vision.  There  is  neither  tree  nor  shrub,  homestead 
nor  boundary,  to  arrest  the  eye. .  At  most,  a  line  of  mimosa 
bushes  marks  the  barren  tract  of  the  periodic  water  course,  and 
the  brown  earth  at  our  feet  is  studded  here  and  there  by  stunted 
bushes.  Such  is  the  veld,  and  such  is  the  characteristic  land- 
scape of  two-thirds  of  settled  South  Africa.  Yet,  even  so,  the 
human  spectator  experiences  no  sense  of  depression  ;  for  over 
his  head  the  great  sun  is  shining  in  his  might. l 

A  few  figures  and  comparisons  will  give  precision  to 
this  account  of  the  rainfall  and  temperature  of  South 
Africa.  The  average  annual  rainfall  of  the  British  Isles 
is  approximately  30  inches  ;  in  France,  omitting  abnor- 
mal stations,  the  rainfall  varies  from  24  inches  in  Paris 
to  52  inches  in  the  Department  of  the  Lower  Pyrenees. 
Over  the  Union  of  South  Africa  (i.e.,  the  four  provinces 
of  the  Cape,  Transvaal,  Free  State  and  Natal)  there  falls 
an  average  of  approximately  23  inches  of  rain  for  the 
year.  In  the  Cape  Peninsula  the  heaviest  rains  come  in 
the  winter ;  in  the  south-east  coast  districts  rain  falls 
equally  throughout  the  year ;  but  with  these  exceptions 
the  South  African  rainfall  occurs  mainly  in  the  summer 
months,  October — March,  which,  as  South  Africa  is 
south  of  the  line,  correspond  roughly  to  April — September 
in  Europe.  We  have  also  to  remember  the  marked 
difference  between  the  rainfall  east  and  west  of  the  great 

1  South  Africa  :    A  Study,  etc.,  1895. 

6 


RAINFALL 

ranges,  and  how  from  these  ranges  westward  the  rainfall 
gradually  lessens  as  we  approach  the  opposite  coast. 
Thus  the  average  rainfall  for  the  year  is  from  40  to  50 
inches  in  Natal,  24  inches  at  Pretoria  and  Bloemfontein, 
from  8  to  9  in  Bechuanaland,  and  from  3  to  4  in  Namaqua- 
land.  Or  again,  crossing  the  Cape  province  from  east 
to  west,  we  find  an  average  rainfall  of  27  inches  in  its 
eastern,  17  in  its  midland,  and  9  in  its  western  districts. 
In  this  last  respect  South  Africa  resembles  Australia, 
where  the  mountain  masses  also  lie  to  the  south-east, 
and  the  rain  clouds  are  brought  by  the  trade  winds 
when  they  set  westwards.  In  New  South  Wales,  for 
example,  Sydney  on  the  east  coast  has  an  annual  rainfall 
of  50  inches,  while  that  of  Milparinka,  in  the  west  of  this 
state,  is  only  nine. 

The  South  African  rainfall,  therefore,  is  not  only  some- 
thing like  one-third  less  in  volume  than  that  of  England  or 
France,  but  it  is  also  much  less  evenly  distributed. 
This,  however,  is  not  all  that  is  to  be  said  about  it. 
Another  peculiarity  remains  to  be  noticed  which  is  both 
good  and  bad.  Not  only  does  considerably  less  rain 
fall  in  South  Africa  than  in  western  Europe,  but  this 
lesser  volume  of  rain  falls  in  a  much  shorter  time  than  that 
in  which  the  same  volume  would  fall  in  England  or  France. 
Thus,  for  example,  while  over  the  Transvaal  there  falls 
on  an  average  in  the  summer  from  15  inches  of  rain  in  the 
west  to  25  inches  in  the  east,  the  actual  duration  of  the 
rainfall  for  the  whole  year,  as  observed  for  five  years, 
was  only  213  hours,  and  the  number  of  rainy  days  (i.e., 
days  on  which  0.01  inches  or  more  of  rain  were  recorded 
on  the  plate)  at  Pretoria  and  Johannesburg  were  respec- 
tively 80  and  84. x  This  almost  constant  presence  of  the 
sun  in  a  country  where  the  rainfall  is  nevertheless  con- 
siderable in  volume,  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that 

1  As  stated  by  Mr.  R.  T.  A.  Innes,  Director  of  the  Transvaal 
Observatory,  in  The  Times  of  November  5th,  1910. 

7 

*— («39) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

heavy  downpours  of  rain,  often  accompanied  by  thunder- 
storms, are  the  order  of  the  day — downpours  in  which 
great  volumes  of  water  are  discharged  rapidly  from  clouds 
that  themselves  quickly  disperse  to  leave  the  sky  in  its 
accustomed  purity.  The  fact  is  that  while  the  climate 
of  South  Africa  is  not  tropical,  the  rainfall  is.  It  is 
tropical,  that  is  to  say,  not  in  amount  (except  on  the 
eastern  coast),  but  in  character.  What  South  Africa, 
west  of  the  great  ranges,  suffers  from  is  not  so  much  a 
deficiency  of  rainfall,  as  the  spasmodic  and  irregular 
manner  in  which  this  rainfall  comes,  and  in  particular 
the  wasteful  rapidity  with  which,  in  the  absence  of  any 
artificial  means  of  water-storage  and  irrigation  on  an 
adequate  scale,  the  rivers  carry  the  rains  down  from  the 
central  plateau  into  the  sea.  Something  is  being  done 
already,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  subsequent  chapter, l  to  save 
a  part  of  the  rainfall ;  but  it  remains  to  create  in  South 
Africa  a  great  public  and  national  system  of  water  storage 
and  irrigation  comparable  to  those  with  which  India, 
Egypt,  and  other  tropical  countries  have  been  provided. 
Such  a  system  would  add  many  millions  of  acres  to  the 
cultivable  area  of  the  Union. 

Passing  now  from  rainfall  to  temperature,  we  find 
that  while  the  mean  annual  temperature  of  England 
and  Wales  is  50°  F.,  and  that  of  the  various  climatic 
districts  of  France  varies  from  48*2°  F.  in  the  Vosges 
to  57*5°  F.  on  the  Mediterranean,  in  all  parts  of  South 
Africa  it  ranges  somewhere  between  60°  F.  and  70°  F. 
The  temperature  of  South  Africa,  therefore,  is  considerably 
higher  than  that  of  England  or  France,  but  the  difference 
is  due  mainly  not  to  an  excess  of  summer  heat,  but  to 
an  absence  of  winter  cold.  With,  however,  this  relatively 
low  variation  within  the  twelve  months  of  the  year  is 
combined  a  relatively  high  variation  within  the  twenty- 
four  hours  of  the  day.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 

i  Part  IV,  Chap.  IV,  pp.  361,4. 

8 


TEMPERATURE 

the  dryness  of  the  air,  which,  with  the  few  exceptions 
already  noted  is  characteristic  of  South  Africa  as  a 
whole,  renders  a  high  thermometrical  heat  less  enervating 
here  than  even  a  considerably  lower  degree  of  heat  would 
be,  if,  and  when,  it  occurred  in  a  country  where  the 
atmosphere  is  charged  with  moisture.  These  char- 
acteristics are  readily  illustrated  by  the  observations 
recorded.  Capetown,  for  example,  has  a  mean  annual 
temperature  of  62°  F. — the  mean  summer  temperature  of 
England,  and  almost  identical  with  the  mean  annual 
temperature  of  Sydney  (61*7°  F.)  in  Australia — the  means 
of  its  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  are  respectively  91°  F. 
and  40°  F.,  and  its  highest  and  lowest  recorded  tempera- 
tures average  respectively  101°  F.  and  34°  F.  over  a 
period  of  years.  Although  it  is  34°  south  of  the  Equator — 
that  is  to  say,  nearer  to  the  equator  than  the  most  southern 
points  of  Europe — it  has  the  same  temperature  as  Nice 
or  Naples.  With  an  annual  mean  of  62°  F.  as  against 
the  56°  F.  of  Madrid,  it  is  at  once  less  hot  and  less  cold 
than  the  Spanish  capital,  where  the  extremes  of  heat 
recorded  average  103°  F.,  and  the  extremes  of  cold  20°  F. 
And  it  has  the  advantage  in  equability  even  over  Mel- 
bourne, which  has  a  maximum  of  105°  F.  and  a  minimum 
of  30°  F.  Pretoria,  with  a  range  between  97°  F.  and 
24°  F.,  and  an  annual  mean  of  64°  F.,  and  Johannesburg, 
with  average  extremes  of  94°  F.  and  23°  F.  and  a  mean  of 
59°  F.,  are  almost  as  equable.  Bloemfontein  and  Kim- 
berry  are  less  equable.  The  average  of  recorded  extremes 
of  the  Free  State  capital  are  109°  F.  and  16°  F.,  but  its 
annual  mean  is  the  same  as  that  of  Capetown — 62°  F. 
Kimberley's  average  of  highest  recorded  temperature  is 
108°  F.  and  of  lowest  20°  F. ;  its  mean  is  65°  F.— 3°  F.  above 
the  mean  of  Capetown  and  6°  above  that  of  Johannesburg — 
yet  the  singular  dryness  of  its  atmosphere  so  tempers  the 
heat  that  there  is  no  place  in  South  Africa  where  men  can 
work  with  more  vigour  of  hand  or  brain.  Natal  has  a 

9 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

mean  annual  temperature  hardly  higher  than  that  of  the 
Cape  Province,  since  its  summer  heat  is  reduced  by  the 
frequent  thunderstorms,  accompanied  by  heavy  rains, 
which  occur  during  this  season.  Durban,  on  the  coast, 
has  a  mean  temperature  for  the  year  of  72°  F.,  with  an 
average  of  recorded  extremes  of  111°  F.,  and  41°  F. ; 
Maritzburg,  the  capital  of  the  Province,  lying  forty  miles 
inland  at  an  elevation  of  2,000  feet  above  sea  level,  has 
a  range  of  temperature  which  varies  on  the  average 
from  32°  F.  in  winter  to  95°  F.  in  summer.  In  Rhodesia 
the  air  is  less  dry  than  that  of  the  southern  regions  of  the 
great  central  plateau,  and  the  rainfall  is  more  evenly 
distributed  throughout  the  year.  Salisbury,  the  admin- 
istrative capital,  is  no  further  from  the  Equator  (17°)  than 
Khartum  ;  but  it  is  nearly  5,000  feet  above  sea  level,  and 
the  greatest  extreme  of  heat  recorded  by  Major  Forbes  in 
the  two  years  1901-2  was  93°  F.  in  October,  1901  ;  while 
in  June,  1902,  the  thermometer  sank  to  34°  F.  Bulawayo, 
the  largest  town,  is  3,800  feet  above  sea  level,  and  has 
a  temperature  which  ranges  between  extremes  of  cold 
which  average  41°  F.,  and  extremes  of  heat  which  average 
106°  F.  Thus,  even  Rhodesia,  near  as  it  is  to  the  Equator, 
owing  to  its  high  average  elevation  has  a  temperate 
climate,  in  which,  to  use  the  words  of  one  who  knows 
it  well,1  "  European  children  grow  up  with  rosy  cheeks 
and  apples  are  not  flavourless." 

The  greatness  of  the  diurnal  range  of  variation  is  a 
marked  characteristic  of  the  climate  of  South  Africa 
throughout  the  great  central  plateau,  and  it  is  a  beneficial 
factor,  since  from  the  point  of  view  of  health  it  compen- 
sates for  the  relative  absence  of  seasonal  variations. 
With  the  exception  of  the  low-lying  lands  of  the  east  and 
south-east  coasts  the  nights  are  cool  everywhere,  however 
hot  the  days  may  be  ;  and  on  the  higher  table-lands  and 
in  mountainous  districts  bright  sunny  days,  with  the 

1  Mr.  F.  C.  Selous. 

10 


GEOLOGICAL   FORMATION 

temperature  of  an  English  summer,  are  succeeded  by 
nights  in  which  the  temperature  falls  several  degrees 
below  freezing  point.  If  the  precautions  necessary  to 
guard  against  the  ill-effects  of  sudden  changes  of  tem- 
perature are  not  neglected,  this  alternation  of  cool  nights 
and  warm  days  is  wholly  good.  Not  only  are  the  func- 
tional organs  stimulated  to  activity,  thereby  enabling 
the  system  to  throw  off  liver  and  other  complaints  to 
which  Europeans  are  subject  in  warm  climates,  but  the 
strain  of  the  long  periods  of  bright  sunshine  and  cloudless 
skies — delightful  in  themselves,  but  making  heavy 
demands  upon  the  brain — is  largely  mitigated  by  the 
nightly  refreshment  of  cool  hours  in  which  sleep  can 
readily  be  enjoyed. 

Before  this  chapter  ends,  it  will  be  convenient  to 
gather  into  focus  the  two  or  three  great  outstanding 
facts  which  are  sufficient  by  themselves  to  give  an  idea 
of  South  Africa's  position  in  the  world  of  nations,  and  to 
show  how  she  is  distinguished  from  the  sister  dominions 
of  the  British  Empire.  It  remains,  however,  first  to 
complete  our  review  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  the 
country,  by  asking  what  account  geology  has  to  give 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  material  fabric  thus  reviewed 
was  built  up. 

Long  ages  ago — so  the  geologist  tells  us — the  rocky 
foundations  of  South  Africa,  consisting  largely  of  granite, 
were  overlaid  by  sedimentary  accumulations,  left 
behind  by  the  retiring  waters,  which  became  horizontal 
quartzose  strata.  This  was  the  first  stage.  In  it  water 
was  the  chief  agent,  and  for  its  f ulfilment  an  immeasurable 
period  of  time  was  required.  In  the  next  stage  fire  was 
the  prime  worker,  and  what  was  done  was  done  quickly. 
Both  the  foundation  rocks  and  the  layers  of  quartzose 
strata  were  pierced  and  broken  up  by  the  intrusion  of 
igneous  rocks,  forced  upward  by  the  expansion  of  the 
molten  interior  of  the  earth.  In  the  third  stage  water 

11 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

again  assumed  the  leading  part.  Over  the  now  broken 
and  distorted  surface  of  the  land,  hills  and  mountains  of 
sandstone,  with  veins  of  quartz,  pounded,  or  worn  away, 
into  sand  and  fragments,  were  laid  down  in  horizontal 
layers.  The  sandstone  was  reduced  to  its  original  particles, 
but  the  fragments  of  the  hard  quartz  were  ground  and 
worn  into  pebbles,  varying  in  shape  and  measuring  from 
3  inches  to  £  inch  in  diameter.  Between  two  layers 
of  sandstone  of  enormous  depth  lie  the  quartz  pebbles, 
cemented  together  by  their  own  detritus  and  crushed 
into  a  conglomerate,  and  forming  a  narrow  layer  only 
15  feet  at  the  thickest.  The  deposits  thus  laid  down 
sandwich  fashion — with  sandstone  top  and  bottom, 
and  the  thin  layer  of  conglomerate  in  the  middle — 
are  four  or  five  miles,  or  even  more,  in  vertical  depth. 
It  was  the  period  when  there  were  great  inland  seas, 
whose  waters  lashed  and  pounded  for  countless  seons 
against  the  mountain  masses  which  enclosed  them,  and 
laid  down  softly  and  smoothly  the  spoils  they  won  from 
the  land,  to  form  a  carpet  deep  down  beneath  their  waves. 
Then  fire  again  took  up  the  task.  This,  the  fourth  stage, 
was  the  era  in  which  the  deposits  of  diamonds  and  of 
gold  were  made,  or  raised  to  the  surface,  or  both  made  and 
raised  to  the  surface  at  the  same  time.  The  diamonds 
were  brought  up  in  the  pipes  and  craters  of  the  volcanoes 
which  burst  into  activity  under  the  waters  of  the  inland 
seas.  The  gold-bearing  solutions,  or  the  actual  grains 
of  gold  washed  down  among  the  quartz  pebbles,  were 
brought  with  the  streams  of  molten  rock  that  were  driven 
upwards  by  the  same  Titanic  agency  through  the 
crust  of  the  earth  and  emptied  into  the  beds  of  these 
same  inland  seas.  After  this  there  came  a  mighty 
convulsion,  which,  heaving  from  beneath,  poured  the 
waters  of  the  inland  seas  over  and  through  the  barrier 
ranges  into  the  ocean,  leaving  the  craters  of  the  diamond- 
bearing,  and  now  long  extinct,  volcanoes  as  dry  land,  and 

12 


CENTRAL   FACTS 

forcing  up  the  edges  of  the  broken  sections  of  the  hori- 
zontal strata,  so  that  the  edges  of  the  gold  bearing 
conglomerates  also  came  to  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
Then  the  scarred  face  of  the  land  was  smoothed  and 
healed  by  time. 

When,  later  on,  we  come  to  discuss  the  subject  of 
mineral  resources,  it  will  be  necessary  to  look  a  little 
closer  at  the  actual  geological  history  of  the  diamond 
and  gold  mines.  For  the  moment  it  is  sufficient  to  note  on 
how  Titanic  a  scale  both  volcanic  action  and  denudation 
have  been  employed  in  the  making  of  South  Africa. 

We  have  now  to  gather  up  the  separate  impressions  left 
by  these  accounts  of  climate  and  rainfall,  rivers,  mountains, 
and  the  action  of  fire  and  water,  by  the  aid  of  those 
two  or  three  great  central  facts  which  "  place  "  South 
Africa.  First,  then,  this,  the  youngest  of  the  Oversea 
British  Dominions,  differs  from  her  compeers  in  that  she 
provides  no  export  of  wheat  and  a  very  small  export  of 
raw  materials.  All  other  new  Anglo-Saxon  countries, 
including  the  United  States,  find  their  readiest  form  of 
wealth  to  lie  in  the  development  of  the  soil,  and  all  are 
large  exporters  of  food  and  raw  materials  to  England  and 
other  closely  populated  European  countries.  In  1909, 
to  take  the  latest  returns  furnished  by  the  Statistical 
Abstract  of  the  trade  of  the  Empire,  the  Union  of  South 
Africa  sent  from  her  ports  only  3*7  million  pounds  worth 
of  wool,  as  against  Australia's  267,  and  New  Zealand's 
6'3,  and  no  wheat  at  all,  as  against  the  13' I1  million 
pounds  worth  of  Canada's,  and  the  6.6  of  Australia's 
respective  exports  under  this  head.  And  this  comparison, 
it  must  be  added,  omits  to  take  account  of  minor  items 
of  food,  such  as  Australia's  large  export  of  butter,  New 
Zealand's  frozen  mutton,  and  Canada's  four  million 
pounds  worth  of  cheese.  But  there  is  another  side  to  the 
picture.  South  Africa,  with  a  European  population  of 

1  The  figures  are  for  1910  in  the  case  of  Canada. 

13 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

little  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter,  has  a  total  export 
trade  which  is  about  a  fourth  only  less  than  those  of 
Australia  or  Canada ;  although  the  European  population 
of  the  former  is  nearly  four  times,  and  that  of  the  latter 
is  nearly  six  times,  as  numerous.  The  balance  is 
redressed — or,  more  correctly,  the  scale  is  weighed  down 
heavily — in  favour  of  South  Africa  by  her  altogether 
exceptional  exports  of  gold  and  diamonds.  Thus,  in 
1909  again,  while  neither  Canada,  Australia,  nor  New 
Zealand  won  any  diamonds,  South  Africa  exported  them 
to  the  value  of  6*3  million  pounds,  and  in  the  same  year 
her  export  of  gold  amounted  in  value  to  no  less  than  33'  1 
million  pounds,  as  against  30  from  Australia,  2'0  from 
New  Zealand,  and  1-2  from  Canada  (1910). 

In  a  word,  South  Africa  contributes  little  to  the  old 
world's  supply  of  food  and  raw  materials,  but  she  pro- 
vides to-day  no  less  than  one-third  of  the  world's  total 
output  of  gold.  And  of  this  vast  contribution  nine-tenths 
comes  from  a  single  province  of  the  Union — the  Trans- 
vaal, and  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  this  Transvaal  gold  is  won 
from  a  single  district,  the  Witwatersrand.  She  is  a  country 
of  undeveloped,  rather  than  insufficient,  agricultural 
resources,  but  of  altogether  exceptional  mineral  wealth. 

No  less  distinctive  is  the  mingling  of  races  and  nation- 
alities in  South  Africa.  In  Canada  there  are  two  nation- 
alities, British  and  French  ;  but  the  British  are  twice 
as  numerous  as  the  French  and  the  two  combined  form 
a  European  nation  of  seven  millions,  with  a  quite  negli- 
gible population  of  red-skinned  Indians.  In  Australia 
there  is  a  solid  Anglo-Saxon  population  of  4,500,000,  with 
a  handful  of  natives  and  Asiatics.  In  New  Zealand, 
again  solid  Anglo-Saxon,  there  are  1,000,000  Europeans 
with  a  very  small,  and  stationary, *  population  of  Maoris. 

1  The  recent  increase  in  the  returns  of  the  Maori  population 
appears  to  be  illusive — being  due  to  fuller  enumeration,  not 
actual  increment. 

14 


ITS  MIXED  POPULATION 

Now  note  the  constituents  of  the  6,000,000  which  make  up 
the  population  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa — or  of  the 
7,500,000  of  South  Africa  as  we  defined  it.  The  vast 
majority  of  this  total  are  dark-skinned  Bantu,  who  out- 
numbering the  Europeans  in  the  proportion  of  four  to  one 
in  the  Union,  and  five  to  one  in  South  Africa  as  a 
whole,  form  a  native  population,  which,  instead  of 
dwindling  away  in  the  presence  of  European  civilisation, 
increases  by  natural  increment  alone  more  rapidly 
than  the  white  man  does  by  natural  increment  combined 
with  immigration.  The  European  minority,  some 
1, 300,000, !  is  not  a  solid  British  community  like  the 
Commonwealth  of  Australia,  or  the  Dominion  of  New 
Zealand,  but  is  made  up  of  two  distinct  nationalities, 
Dutch,  or  more  correctly  Franco-Dutch,  and  British. 
In  this  respect  it  resembles  Canada,  but  there  is  a  very 
important  difference  between  the  mixed  European  popu- 
lations of  the  two  countries.  Whereas  in  Canada  the 
British  are  twice  as  numerous  as  the  French,  in  South 
Africa  the  Dutch  are  in  a  majority. 

South  Africa,  therefore,  has  both  its  "  native  question  " 
and  its  nationality  difficulty  The  former  has  no  counter- 
part in  any  other  oversea  dominion  ;  the  latter  arises  in 
a  form  infinitely  more  embarrassing  than  it  does  in  Canada, 
where  also  the  European  community  is  composed  of  two 
nationalities.  The  visitor,  or  the  settler,  therefore, 
must  be  prepared  to  find  on  his  arrival  in  South  Africa 
a  country  in  which  whole  regions  are  inhabited  by  dark- 
skinned  and  primitive  tribes,  and  one  in  which  there  are 
European  towns  and  villages  where  a  Dutch  patois,  and 
not  English,  is  the  language  spoken  by  the  people.  Even 
in  the  large  towns,  where  the  white  population  is  mainly 

1  The  Census  of  1911  gave  the  number  of  the  white  population 
of  the  Union  of  South  Africa  as  1,278,025,  and  that  of  the  Bantu, 
etc.,  as  4,680,474.  Southern  Rhodesia  has  23,606  Europeans  and 
750,000  natives,  etc. 

15 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

British,  he  will  read  Dutch  names  on  the  street  corners, 
and  study  public  notices  printed  in  Dutch  side  by  side 
with  English.  Some  will  be  repelled  by  these  signs 
that  the  African  native  has  by  no  means  renounced  his 
claim  to  the  land  of  his  forefathers,  and  that  here,  for 
once,  the  British  colonist  is  second  in  the  field.  But 
to  most  men  the  presence  of  these  Dutch  neighbours, 
and  the  dusky  faces  of  the  natives,  will  add  a  zest  of 
novelty  to  the  buoyant  anticipations  with  which  the 
British  Dominions,  and  certainly  South  Africa  not  least 
among  them,  never  fail  to  inspire  all  those  who  are 
resolved  to  give  them  of  their  best. 

The  existence  of  these  diverse  elements  in  the  population 
brings  to  mind  the  fact  that  South  Africa  has  a  remote 
past  upon  which  history  is  not  entirely  silent.  The 
annals  of  Canada  furnish  episodes  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance in  the  drama  of  the  long  struggle  between  France 
and  England  for  trade  supremacy  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  New  Zealand  has  her  Maori  wars,  and  neither 
these  nor  the  more  peaceful  incidents  of  Australia's 
development  are  by  any  means  barren  of  interest.  The 
brief  and  fragmentary  records  of  South  Africa  cannot 
pretend  to  compare  in  fullness  or  dignity  with  the  great 
volume  of  English  history ;  but  they  begin  nevertheless 
1,000  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  thus  South 
Africa,  alone  of  the  British  Dominions  beyond  the  Seas, 
has  points  of  contact  with  the  great  nations  of  the  ancient 
world — with  Israel,  Phoenicia,  and  the  Egypt  of  the 
Pharaohs. 

South  Africa  weaves  many  spells.  To  the  settler  she 
offers  broad  lands  and  the  speedy  acquisition  of  wealth  ; 
to  the  sportsman,  the  variety  and  abundance  of  the 
wild  creatures  that  still  haunt  her  forests  and  uplands  ; 
to  the  invalid,  the  life-giving  air  of  her  central  table- 
lands ;  to  the  philanthropist,  missionary  effort  upon  a 
great  scale  and  with  great  results  ;  to  the  man  of  science 

16 


FEATURES   OF   INTEREST 

and  the  financier,  the  problems  and  prizes  of  gold  and 
diamond  winning  ;  to  the  politician,  the  adolescence  of  a 
new  nation  ;  to  the  traveller,  the  glamour  of  the  shining 
veld,  the  forest  of  perpetual  rain,  the  rainbow  brilliance 
and  thunderous  echoes  of  the  Victoria  Falls,  and  the 
battle-fields  of  the  great  war.  But  in  the  Phoenician 
temple-fortresses  of  Rhodesia,  and  in  the  seventeenth 
century  homesteads  of  the  early  Dutch  settlers  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  she  offers  a  source  of  interest 
which  in  a  "  new  country  "  is  as  unexpected  as  it  is 
alluring. 


17 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   NATIVE   RACES 

THE  great  outstanding  fact  that  five-sixths  at  least  of 
the  population  of  South  Africa  are  coloured,  or  dark- 
skinned  people,  has  already  been  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  reader.  It  is  a  circumstance  that  has  a  double 
significance.  It  means  that  a  burden  of  responsibility 
is  placed  upon  the  comparatively  small  number  of  Euro- 
peans in  South  Africa  from  which  the  European  inhabi- 
tants of  the  other  dominions  are  free  ;  but  it  also  means 
that  the  Europeans  in  South  Africa  possess  an  industrial 
resource  enjoyed  by  no  other  similar  community.  The 
physical  strain  of  a  century  of  almost  continuous  native 
wars  has  now  been  succeeded  by  the  moral  strain  of  a 
realised  obligation  to  raise  these  backward  races  in  the 
scale  of  civilisation.  And  here  interest  and  duty  com- 
bine ;  since  the  industrial  utility  and  contentment  of  the 
Native  population  as  a  whole  depend  upon  the  successful 
fulfilment  of  this  task. 

Some  mention  of  the  methods  employed  to  fit  the 
natives  for  a  partnership  in  industry  with  the  Europeans 
will  be  made  in  due  course.  For  the  moment  it  is  enough 
to  notice  that,  owing  to  the  presence  of  the  native  races, 
the  Europeans  in  South  Africa  are  placed  in  somewhat 
the  same  position  as  that  held  by  the  citizens  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome.  Just  as  the  communities  of  freemen 
in  the  age  of  the  Graeco-Roman  civilisation  handed  over 
to  their  slaves  all  the  rough  work  of  life,  so  to-day  the 
white  man  in  South  Africa  looks  to  the  "  Kafir  boys  " 
to  relieve  him  of  the  necessity  of  mere  manual  labour. 
Whether  this  condition  of  affairs  is  to  the  social  and 
political  advantage  of  the  Europeans  is  a  matter  upon 

18 


THE  BUSHMEN 

which  two  opinions  are  held ;  but  the  fact  remains  that 
for  the  time  being  existing  economic  conditions  and  the 
necessity  for  maintaining  the  prestige  of  the  European 
community  as  a  whole,  unite  to  make  it  seem  undesirable 
for  the  white  man  to  enter  into  competition  with  the 
Kafir  in  the  unskilled  labour  market.  In  these  circum- 
stances the  base  of  the  industrial  structure  will  continue 
to  be  formed  by  the  coloured  man  :  and,  so  long  as  this  is 
the  case,  the  individual  European,  merely  because  he  is 
a  European,  must  maintain  his  position  as  a  member  of  a 
superior  race.  If  he  fails  to  do  this,  he  will  degrade  not 
merely  himself,  but  the  European  community  as  a  whole, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  natives,  and  thereby  add  materially 
to  the  difficulty  of  the  already  formidable  task  of  native 
administration. 

The  presence  of  the  native  population  is,  therefore, 
the  cardinal  fact  upon  which  the  whole  fabric  of  the 
social  and  political  life  of  South  Africa  turns ;  and  it  is 
one  which  gives  to  the  European  inhabitants  of  this 
country  a  unique  position  among  the  English-speaking 
oversea  communities.  It  is  here,  too,  that  any  review 
of  the  past  history  and  the  present  conditions  of  South 
Africa,  however  brief,  must  find  its  most  appropriate 
starting-point. 

When  we  speak  of  "the  natives  "  of  South  Africa, 
we  think  naturally  of  the  virile  and  prolific  Bantu, 
who  form  the  vast  majority  of  its  non-European  popu- 
lation, and  are  familiar  to  Englishmen  under  the  names 
of  one  or  other  of  the  great  South  African  branches  of  the 
race — Zulus,  Matebele,  Bechuanas,  Basutos  and  so  on. 
The  earliest  inhabitants  of  South  Africa,  however,  were 
not  a  dark-skinned  people,  but  the  yellow-skinned 
Bushmen  and  Hottentots.  Of  these  the  former  were  a 
race  of  pigmies,  to  whom  the  first  Dutch  settlers  gave 
the  name  "  Bushmen,"  because  they  found  them  lurking 
in  the  shelter  of  the  underwoods  at  the  base  of  Table 

19 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Mountain.  This  primitive  race  knew  no  form  of  govern- 
ment other  than  the  parental,  had  no  settled  habitations, 
and  owned  no  property  except  the  few  rude  implements 
with  which  they  satisfied  their  elementary  needs.  They 
neither  pastured  cattle  nor  tilled  the  soil,  but  subsisted 
on  roots,  berries  and  honey,  with  the  flesh  of  such  wild 
creatures  as  they  could  kill  with  bone-tipped,  poisoned 
arrows,  sped  from  their  tiny  bows.  They  were  incapable 
of  civilisation,  and  their  condition  had  not  altered  when 
Pringle  1  came  to  South  Africa  among  the  Albany  Settlers 
in  1820,  nearly  200  years  after  the  Dutch  Settlers  had  first 
found  them.  In  "The  Song  of  the  Wild  Bushman" 
he  thus  describes  their  life  in  the  desert-regions  of  the 
Cape  Colony  of  his  day. 

Let  the  proud  White  Man  boast  his  flocks, 

And  fields  of  foodful  grain  ; 
My  home  is  'mid  the  mountain  rocks, 

The  Desert  my  domain. 
I  plant  no  herbs  not  pleasant  fruits, 

I  toil  not  for  my  cheer  ; 
The  Desert  yields  me  juicy  roots, 

And  herds  of  bounding  deer. 
*  *  *  * 

My  yoke  is  the  quivering  assagai,  2 

My  rein  the  tough  bow-string  ; 
My  bridle  curb  is  a  slender  barb — 

Yet  it  quells  the  forest  King. 
The  crested  adder  honour eth  me, 

And  yields  at  my  command 
His  poison  bag,  like  the  honey  bee, 

When  I  seize  him  on  the  sand. 
Yea,  even  the  wasting  locust-swarm, 

Which  mighty  nations  dread, 
To  me  nor  terror  brings  nor  harm — 

For  I  make  of  them  my  bread. 3 

1  Afterwards  Secretary  to  the  Society  for  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery. 

2  Assagai  =  hasta,     through   the    Portuguese.       It    was    the 
javelin  or  stabbing  spear  of  the  South  African  natives,  first  seen 
(and  so  named)  by  the  Portuguese  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

3  Ephcmerides,  by  Thomas  Pringle,  1828. 

20 


THE  HOTTENTOTS 

The  Hottentots  were  some  degrees  higher  in  the  scale 
of  humanity.  They  were  a  nomadic  people,  each  clan 
recognising  the  authority  of  a  chief ;  and  they  both 
cultivated  the  soil  and  pastured  herds  of  cattle.  As, 
however,  the  institution  of  private  property  was  unknown 
to  them,  the  fruits  of  their  tillage  and  their  cattle  were  the 
property  of  the  clan,  or  tribe,  as  a  whole.  In  appearance 
they  were  not  far  removed  from  the  Bushmen,  but  their 
greater  mental  development  enabled  them  to  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  ways  of  civilised  life.  The  place  from  which 
they  came,  and  the  time  and  manner  of  their  coming,  are 
hidden  in  the  dimness  of  the  remote  past ;  the  one 
fact  known  with  certainty  is  that  the  Portuguese  navi- 
gators, when  they  reached  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  found  the  Hottentots  established 
there.  The  tractability  of  the  Hottentot,  as  compared 
with  the  wildness  of  the  Bushman,  is  well  indicated  in 
Pringle's  sonnet : 

Mild,  melancholy,  and  sedate,  he  stands, 
Tending  another's  flock  upon  the  fields, 
His  fathers'  once,  where  now  the  White  Man  builds 

His  home,  and  issues  forth  his  proud  commands. 

His  dark  eye  flashes  not ;    his  listless  hands 

Lean  on  the  shepherd's  staff ;    no  more  he  wields 
The  Libyan  bow — but  to  th'  oppressor  yields 

Submissively  his  freedom  and  his  lands.1 

Although  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  imported 
both  eastern  labour  (Malays)  and  slaves  from  Central 
Africa  for  the  service  of  their  settlers  at  the  Cape,  the 
Hottentots  remained  practically  the  sole  "  native " 
population  of  the  Cape  Colony  until  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Even  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period  of  British  occupation,  when  the  westward 
expansion  of  the  Colony  had  brought  the  Europeans 
into  contact  with  the  Kafirs,  they  remained  the  char- 
acteristic people  of  the  country.  Thus  Lord  Charles 

1  Sonnets  :    "  The  Hottentot." 

21 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Somerset,  who  was  appointed  governor  of  the  Cape  in 
1814,  was  said  by  a  contemporary  wag  to  have  been  sent 
out  "  to  fleece  the  Hottentots  on  £10,000  a  year  "  ;  and 
the  native  regiment  of  the  Colony  at  this  time  was  a 
Hottentot  corps — a  circumstance  which  gave  rise  to 
the  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch  farmers,  that  the 
English  had  "  armed  the  Hottentots  against  them." 
At  the  present  time  very  few  pure  types  of  either  Bushmen 
or  Hottentots  survive,  but  the  characteristic  qualities 
of  these  yellow  races  are  to  be  recognised  in  certain 
families  among  the  considerable  population  of  mingled 
native  and  native  and  European  blood,  known  collec- 
tively as  "  coloured  persons "  in  distinction  to  the 
"  natives  "  of  the  Bantu  race.  According  to  the  census 
of  1911  there  are  in  the  Union  of  South  Africa  some 
500,000  of  these  "  coloured  persons,"  of  whom  the  great 
majority  (some  400,000)  are  naturally  to  be  found  in  the 
Cape  Province. 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  the  epoch  which  saw  the  first 
beginnings  of  European  settlement — South  Africa  was 
inhabited,  first,  by  wandering  tribes  of  these  primitive 
yellow  races,  scattered  along  its  west  and  south  coasts 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Orange  River,  and,  second,  by 
branches  of  the  characteristic  dark-skinned  native  African 
race,  known  to  ethnologists  under  the  name  of  Bantu. 1 
At  this  time,  however,  these  latter  were  not  to  be  found 
on  the  central  plateau  further  south  than  a  line  drawn  from 
Walfish  Bay  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Vaal,  although 

1  The  word  Bantu  (aba-ntu)  is  the  plural  of  um-ntu,  a  word  which 
means  a  human  being  in  the  dialect  of  the  Tembu,  Pondo,  Zulu, 
and  other  East  Coast  tribes.  It  was  adopted  by  the  late  Dr.  Bleek 
as  a  generic  term  for  the  dark-skinned  African  natives  of  Central 
and  South  Africa.  "  In  the  division  of  mankind  thus  named 
are  included  all  those  Africans  who  use  a  language  which  is 
inflected  principally  by  means  of  prefixes,  and  which,  in  the 
construction  of  sentences,  follows  certain  rules  depending  upon 
harmony  of  sound." — Theal,  The  Beginning  of  South  African 
History,  1902. 

22 


THE  BANTU 

in  the  fertile  and  well-watered  country  between  the 
great  eastern  ranges  and  the  sea  they  had  already  pushed 
their  way  to  what  is  now  the  south-west  border  of  Natal. 
Nor  did  the  Dutch  settlers  of  the  Cape  Colony  come  into 
serious  conflict  even  with  the  Bantu  of  the  east  coast 
until  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  To  the 
Englishman,  however,  the  Bantu,  known  in  common 
speech  under  the  name  of  "  Kafirs/'  which  was  given  to 
them  by  the  Mohammedans — the  word  means  "  Un- 
believer "  and  is  the  counterpart  of  the  term  "  Infidel " 
as  applied  to  Europeans — are  familiar  enough  as  the 
"  natives  "  of  South  Africa  :  since,  during  the  nineteenth 
century,  British  settlers  and  soldiers  have  been  employed 
almost  continuously  in  repelling  the  attacks  of  such 
warlike  tribes  as  the  Xosas,  the  Zulus,  and  the  Matabele, 
and  generaUy  in  establishing  order  and  settled  govern- 
ment among  these  dense  masses  of  dark-skinned  people 
as  a  whole. 

We  have  no  certain  information  as  to  the  original 
cradle  of  the  Bantu  race  ;  but  we  know  that  the  South 
African  tribes  of  this  family  must  have  made  their  way 
gradually  southward  from  what  is  now  the  main  seat  of 
the  race  in  Central  Africa  ;  and  it  is  believed  that  it  was 
in  the  course  of  their  migration  that  the  warlike  east 
coast  tribes,  to  whom  the  term  "  Kafir  "  most  properly 
applies,  acquired  the  considerable  infusion  of  eastern  blood, 
which  is  apparent  in  their  mental  and  physical  char- 
acteristics. On  this  assumption,  the  Kafirs  of  South 
Africa  would  owe  their  superiority  over  the  Central  African 
Bantu  to  the  circumstance  that  their  progenitors  inter- 
married with  one  or  more  of  the  eastern  peoples,  the 
Sabaeans  or  Phoenicians,  Arabs,  and  Indians,  who  from 
time  to  time  established  settlements  upon  the  east  coast 
of  Africa,  and  not  to  an  original  Semitic  strain  carried 
with  them  from  some  remote  Asiatic  home.  However 
this  may  be,  the  South  African  Bantu,  although  naturally 

23 

3— («39) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

a  lustful  and  cruel  people,  possess  some  good  and  even 
noble  qualities,  from  whatever  source  acquired ;  and 
Pringle's  sonnet  to  the  Kafir  exhibits  him  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  Hottentot  and  Bushman. 

Lo  !    where  he  crouches  by  the  cleugh's  dark  side. 
Eyeing  the  farmer's  lowing  herds  afar  ; 
Impatient  watching  till  the  Evening  Star 

Lead  forth  the  Twilight  dim,  that  he  may  glide 

Like  panther  to  the  prey.  With  freeborn  pride 
He  scorns  the  herdsman,  nor  regards  the  scar 
Of  recent  wound — but  burnishes  for  war 

His  assagai  and  targe  of  buffalo-hide. 

The  characteristics  which  reveal  the  position  of  the 
Kafirs  in  the  scale  of  humanity  form  an  exceedingly 
interesting  subject  of  study,  but  in  a  work  of  this  kind 
they  can  only  be  indicated  very  briefly.  They  are  : 

(1)  A  simple  but  completely  developed  tribal  system 
of  government,  with  a  body  of  customary  law,  tribunals 
of  justice,  and  a  system  of  land  tenure. 

(2)  An  adequate  and  musical  language,   the  use  of 
which  is  determined  by  rules  of  grammar.    Oral  narra- 
tives, containing  the  traditions  of  the  tribe,  and  folk-lore 
represent  their  development  of  the  poetic  faculty,  since 
they   have   no   literature,   nor   any   acquaintance   with 
written  signs  for  the  conveying  of  ideas. 1 

(3)  A  religious  sense  founded  upon  the  belief  in  the 
survival  of  the  soul  after  death,  and  in  the  power  of  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  to  work  good  or  evil  to  the  living  ; 
and  a  deep-seated  belief  in  witchcraft  and  other  forms  of 
supernatural  agencies.     Ancestor-worship  is,  of  course, 
common  to  all  primitive  people,  and  in  China,  as  Taoism, 
it  is  one  of  the  three  established  cults  (those  of  Brahma 
and  Confucius  being  the  other  two). 

(4)  A  knowledge  of  agriculture  with  the  possession  of 
domestic  animals  ;  horned  cattle  being  their  distinctive 

1  This,  of  course,  refers  to  the  condition  of  the  Bantu  in  their 
natural  state.  Under  Missionary  and  State  education,  they  now 
use  Kafir  text-books,  and  publish  native  newspapers. 

24 


GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS 

form  of  wealth,  and  the  common  medium  in  which 
tribute  to  the  chief  and  the  bride-price  are  fixed  and  paid. 
In  addition  to  this  they  have  some  acquaintance  with  the 
arts  of  the  smith,  the  potter  and  the  weaver.  The 
typical  "  house  "  is  a  bee-hive  shaped  hut,  thatched  with 
reeds  or  grass  laid  upon  a  framework  of  boughs,  and  having 
a  single  low  and  small  opening  for  ingress  and  egress. 
A  collection  of  such  huts,  called  a  "  Kraal/'  forms  a 
native  village,  or  town,  which  for  purpose  of  defence 
may  be  surrounded  by  a  stockade.  The  women  wear 
wrappers  or  fringes  of  leather  about  the  middle  ;  young 
children  and  men  find  no  need  of  clothing  in  warm 
weather,  but  on  the  table-lands,  and  generally  when 
requiring  protection  from  cold,  the  men  wrap  around  them 
the  kaross,  a  square  of  skins,  sewn  together,  and  of  the 
size  of  an  ordinary  rug,  or  blanket.  It  is  with  the  kaross 
thrown  over  his  shoulders  that  the  Kafir  is  seen  crossing 
the  mountains  and  the  high  plateaux,  or  sitting  round 
the  fire  talking  and  jesting  with  his  fellows  in  the  open  air. 

(5)  The  possession  of  primitive  but  effective  weapons 
of  war,  with  an  aptitude  for  military  discipline,  which 
enabled  powerful  chiefs  to  organise  the  whole  of  their 
adult  males  into  a  single  fighting  machine.  Thus 
Ketchwayo  possessed  at  the  time  of  the  Zulu  war  a 
"  military  organisation  which  enabled  him  to  form  out 
of  his  comparatively  small  population  an  army,  at  the 
very  lowest  estimate  of  25,000  perfectly  trained  and 
perfectly  obedient  soldiers,  able  to  march  three  times  as 
fast  as  we  could,  to  dispense  with  commissariat  of  every 
kind  and  transport  of  every  kind,  and  to  fall  upon  [Natal] 
or  any  part  of  the  neighbouring  colony  [the  Transvaal] 
in  such  numbers,  and  with  such  determination  that 
nothing  but  a  fortified  post  could  resist  them,  making 
no  prisoners  and  sparing  neither  age  nor  sex."  *  First 
among  these  weapons  is  the  assagai,  a  short,  light  javelin, 

1  Despatch  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  March  1st,  1879. 

25 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

with  a  long,  flat,  iron  head,  sharpened  on  both  edges, 
and  fixed  to  a  light  wooden  shaft.  It  was  used  both  as  a 
missile — the  end  of  the  shaft  being  furnished  with  cow's 
hair,  to  give  precision  of  aim  in  the  manner  of  the  "  grey 
goose  feathers  "  used  by  the  English  bowmen  of  the  age  of 
Agincourt — and  as  a  weapon  for  stabbing  at  close  quar- 
ters. When  an  impi,  or  Kafir  regiment,  advanced  in  its 
characteristic  formation  of  a  half-circle,  the  assagais  were 
hurled  from  a  distance,  but  when  the  "  horns  "  of  the 
impi  had  closed,  and  the  enemy  was  surrounded,  they 
were  used  as  stabbing  spears.  The  complement  of  the 
assagai  is  the  long,  oval-shaped  shield  of  hide,  studded 
with  metal  bosses,  and  enriched  with  tassels  of  cow- 
hair  plumes.  In  addition  to  these  weapons  of  serious 
warfare,  the  Kafir  possesses  a  wooden  club,  with  a  short 
handle  and  a  massive  round  head,  termed  a  knob-kerrie, 
which,  like  the  assagai,  can  either  be  thrown  from  a 
distance,  or  wielded  in  the  hand,  as  occasion  demands. 
The  knob-kerrie  is  a  more  inseparable  part  of  his  everyday 
equipment  than  the  kaross.  Not  only  does  he  use  it 
to  "  knock  over  "  any  stray  game  that  he  may  come  across, 
or  to  settle  a  dispute,  however  trivial,  with  a  member  of 
his  family  or  a  neighbour,  but  he  carries  it  about  with 
him  in  his  hand  on  all  occasions,  much  as  an  eighteenth- 
century  gentleman  wore  his  sword,  whether  likely  to  be 
wanted,  or  not. 

The  manner  in  which  these  weapons  were  used  against 
the  white  man  is  pictured  to  us  by  Pringle's  "  Makanna's 
Gathering." 

Then  come,  ye  Chieftains  bold, 

With  war-plumes  waving  high  ; 
Come  every  warrior,  young  and  old, 

With  club  and  assagai. 

*  *  *  * 

Fling  your  broad  shields  away — 

Bootless  against  such  foes  ; 
But  hand-to-hand  we'll  fight  to-day 

And  with  their  bayonets  close. 

26 


KAFIR  WARFARE 

Grasp  each  man  short  his  stabbing  spear — 
And,  when  to  battle's  edge  we  come, 

Rush  on  their  ranks  in  full  career, 
And  to  their  hearts  strike  home  ! 

Wake  !    Amakosa,  wake  ! 

And  muster  for  the  war ; 
The  wizard-wolves  from  Keisi's  brake, 

The  vultures  from  afar, 
Are  gathering  at  Uhlanga's  call, 

And  follow  fast  our  westward  way — 
For  well  they  know,  ere  evening-fall, 

They  shall  have  glorious  prey  !  1 

By  the  side  of  this  poetic  picture  we  may  set  two  vivid 
prose  descriptions  furnished  by  Mrs.  Harriet  Ward, 
who  was  in  the  Colony  at  the  time  of  the  "  War  of  the 
Axe"  (1846-48). 

The  Kafir,  at  the  first  onset,  is,  perhaps,  less  ferocious  than 
cunning,  and  more  intent  upon  improving  his  own  interests  by 
theft  than  in  taking  life  from  the  mere  spirit  of  cruelty  ;  but 
once  roused,  he  is  like  the  wild  beast  after  the  taste  of  blood, 
and  loses  all  the  best  attributes  of  humanity.  The  movement 
of  a  body  of  these  savages  through  the  land  may  be  likened  to 
a  "  rushing  and  mighty  wind."  On,  on,  they  sweep  !  like  a 
blast ;  filling  the  air  with  a  strange  whirr — reminding  one,  on  a 
grand  scale,  of  a  flight  of  locusts. 

An  officer  [in  the  war  of  1835]  had  his  attention  suddenly 
arrested  by  a  cloud  of  dust ;  then  a  silent  mass  appeared,  and 
lo  !  a  multitude  of  beings,  more  resembling  demons  than  men, 
rushed  past.  There  were  no  noises,  no  sound  of  footsteps, 
nothing  but  the  shiver  of  the  assagais,  which  gleamed  as  they 
dashed  onwards. 

The  second  passage  gives  an  account  of  the  attack  on 
Fort  Peddie,  an  incident  in  the  "  War  of  the  Axe." 
It  was  furnished  by  an  eye-witness,  and  published  in  a 
local  South  African  paper  at  the  time.  Fort  Peddie  is 
described  as  "  a  mere  earthen  embankment  "  held  by  a 
handful  of  British  soldiers.  It  is  noticeable  that  at  this 

1  In  the  Kafir  war  of  1817-19  Makanna  led  the  Xosa  chiefs 
and  their  warriors  into  the  Cape  Colony,  and,  after  minor  suc- 
cesses, attacked  Graham's  Town,  the  head-quarters  of  the  British 
troops  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Colony. 

27 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

date  the  Kafirs  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Cape 
Colony  had  in  part  acquired  the  use  of  European 
weapons. 

Were  it  not  that  life  and  death  were  concerned  in  it,  I  should 
have  pronounced  it  [the  attack]  a  most  beautiful  sight.  The 
Kafir  commanders  sent  their  aides-de-camp  from  one  party  to 
another,  just  as  you  would  see  it  done  on  a  field  day  with 
European  troops.  The  main  bodies  were  continually  increasing 
with  horse  and  foot  men,  and  soon  after  eleven  the  array  was 
truly  terrific.  The  largest  body  was  to  the  westward  ;  finding 
their  schemes  of  drawing  the  troops  out  did  not  succeed,  small 
parties  advanced  in  skirmishing  order,  and  then  the  two  divisions 
of  Pato  and  the  Gaikas  moved  towards  each  other,  as  if  intending 
a  combined  attack  on  some  given  point.  Colonel  Lindsay  was 
superintending  the  working  of  the  gun  himself,  and,  as  soon  as 
a  body  of  Gaikas  moved  within  range,  a  shot  was  sent  into  the 
midst  of  them.  .  .  .  The  Kafirs  now  extended  themselves  in  a 
line  six  miles  in  length.  These,  advancing  at  the  same  time,  so 
filled  the  valley,  that  it  seemed  a  mass  of  moving  Kafirs  ;  rockets 
and  shells  were  poured  rapidly  on  them,  and  presently  a 
tremendous  fire  of  musketry  poured  over  our  heads.  The 
enemy,  however,  did  not  come  near  enough  for  the  infantry  to 
play  upon  them,  and  only  a  few  shots  were  fired  from  the  infantry 
barracks.  .  .  .  The  actual  fighting  was  between  the  Fingoes  l 
and  the  Kafirs  ;  the  troops  could  not  have  gone  out  without 
exposing  the  forts  to  danger,  as  there  were  masses  ready  to  pour 
in  from  all  quarters.2 

The  emigrant  Boers  had  a  method  of  their  own  of 
resisting  the  rush  of  the  Kafirs.  This  was  to  form  up 
their  huge  travelling  wagons  in  a  square,  and  shoot  down 
their  savage  assailants  from  behind  the  barrier  thus 
provided.  As  the  phrase  to  "  laager  the  wagons " 
has  become  historical, — the  neglect  of  this  precaution 
cost  the  British  nation  the  loss  of  almost  the  entire  24th 
Regiment  at  Isandhlwana — it  will  be  interesting  to  recall 
Cloete's  account  of  this  useful  manoeuvre.  "  These 
laagers,  or  camps,"  he  writes, 3  "  were  formed  by  their 
wagons  being  brought  up  into  a  square,  the  poles  and 

1  A  tribe  of  loyal  Kafirs. 
8  Five  Years  in  Kafirland. 

1  Five  Lectures  on  the  Emigration  of  the  Dutch  Farmers,  etc., 
Capetown,  1856. 

28 


LAAGERING  THE  WAGONS 

wagon  '  gear  '  of  one  wagon  being  firmly  secured  under 
the '  perch  '  of  the  next  wagon  ;  and,  when  time  admitted, 
branches  of  the  thorny  mimosas  were  also  wattled  in 
under  each  wagon,  so  that  no  entrance  could  be  effected 
into  the  enclosure  without  forcibly  tearing  up  all  these 
impediments." 

Thus  the  laager  of  the  Voertrekkers  on  Vecht  Kop  in 
1836  resisted  the  onset  of  the  Matebele  Zulus  under 
Moselekatze ;  and  in  1838  the  only  Boer  camps  on  the 
Blaauwkrantz  River  in  Natal  that  escaped  wholesale 
destruction  at  the  hands  of  Dingaan,  the  treacherous  Zulu 
King,  were  the  few  in  which  the  occupants  had  been 
warned  of  the  despatch  of  his  ten  regiments  of  trained 
warriors  in  time  to  laager  their  wagons.  Later  in  the 
century  the  British  Army  adopted  the  hollow  square 
formation  for  the  same  purpose  as  the  Boers  went  into 
laager ;  and  by  this  means  small  bodies  of  troops  were 
enabled  to  resist  successfully  the  furious,  enveloping 
attacks  delivered  by  the  Kafirs,  the  Dervishes,  and  other 
barbarous  or  half -civilised  enemies.  It  was  by  advancing 
and  fighting  in  this  formation  that  Lord  Chelmsford 
retrieved  the  disaster  of  Isandhlwana  at  Ulundi.  His 
force,  which  consisted  of  not  more  than  4,000  European 
and  1,000  native  troops,  was  drawn  up  in  a  single  hollow 
rectangle,  with  the  infantry  supported  by  guns  on  the 
outside,  and  the  cavalry  and  stores  enclosed  within. 
To  complete  these  pictures  of  Kafir  warfare  I  may,  per- 
haps, be  allowed  to  reproduce  the  description  of  this  battle 
which  I  gave  in  my  Story  of  South  Africa. 

Against  this  square,  Ketchwayo's  warriors  rushed  with  splendid 
discipline  and  courage.  As  the  Zulus  approached,  leaping  and 
shrieking,  it  seemed  as  though  the  black  wave  must  flow  over 
the  slender  lines  of  red  and  grey.  But  as  it  drew  nearer  and 
the  crack  of  the  rifles  rang  out,  the  wave  grew  less  dense  ; 
then,  when  it  had  come  quite  close,  it  bent  before  the  hissing 
discharge  of  the  gatlings,  and  fell  broken  at  the  feet  of  the  British 
line.  But,  even  so,  before  this  withering  fire,  here  and  there  a 
Zulu  warrior  would  reach  the  line,  and  animated  by  the  desperate 

29 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

courage  of  his  race,  grasp  the  bayonets,  and  thus,  by  fixing  their 
points  in  his  breast,  try  to  open  a  path  for  his  comrades. 

When  at  length  the  Zulus  had  broken  and  taken  to  flight,  the 
lines  opened  and  the  cavalry  rode  out  to  complete  the  work. 

It  is  a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  indomitable  spirit 
of  the  South  African  Bantu  that  a  century  of  conflict 
with  disciplined  troops,  armed  with  the  increasingly 
lethal  weapons  provided  by  science,  left  them  still 
ready  to  try  conclusions  with  the  white  man  in  the 
twentieth  century.  The  last  native  war,  the  Rebellion 
in  Natal,  which  took  place  only  five  years  ago  (1906-7), 
bears  sinister  witness  to  the  fact. 

Dr.  Theal  divides  the  Bantu  of  Africa  south  of  the 
Zambezi  into  three  groups.  In  the  first  he  places  the 
tribes  of  the  east  coast  from  the  Sabi  river  southwards 
to  the  Cape  Province,  with  the  offshoots  of  these  tribes 
that  made  their  way  inland  to  the  central  plateau. 
The  group  contains  the  "  first-rate  fighting  men  "  that 
made  South  Africa  known  to  the  British  tax-payer  before 
its  diamonds  and  gold  gave  it  a  happier  reputation — 
the  Xosas,  the  Zulus,  and  the  Matabele,  together  with 
the  Tembu,  the  Pondos,  the  Swazis,  and  other  warlike 
and  virile  clans.  The  second  group  covers  "  the  tribes 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  occupied  the  great 
interior  plain  and  came  down  to  the  coast  between  the 
Zambezi  and  Sabi  rivers."  In  it  there  occur  the  names  of 
natives  prominently  associated  with  missionary  enter- 
prise, such  as  the  Batlapins,  the  Barolongs,  the  Bamang- 
watos,  and  the  Makalanga,  and  the  Basutos — perhaps 
the  most  interesting  of  all  the  native  African  peoples. 
The  third  group  consists  of  all  the  Bantu  tribes  between 
the  Kalahari  desert  and  the  Atlantic.  The  Hereros — 
known  to  us  from  their  revolt  against  the  Germans — and 
the  Ovampos  are  the  chief  among  them  ;  and  the  people 
of  this  group  are  distinguished  as  having  no  admixture 
of  Asiatic  blood,  and  being  in  general  "  blacker  in  colour, 

30 


MILITARY   TRIBES 

coarser  in   appearance,   and   duller  in   intellect "   than 
those  of  the  two  preceding  groups. l 

The  first  and  second  of  these  groups,  which  comprise 
the  Bantu  of  our  South  Africa,  correspond  with  the  method 
of  division  adopted  by  the  late  Mr.  John  Mackenzie, 
the  famous  missionary.  According  to  this  authority 
the  Bantu  tribes  of  South  Africa  are  to  be  distinguished 
as  "  military  "  and  "  industrial."  The  military  tribes — 
those  of  Dr.  TheaFs  first  group — are  characterised  by  their 
absorption  in  the  business  and  practice  of  war,  and  their 
tribal  organisation  and  customs  were,  accordingly, 
such  as  would  be  expected  where  war  and  the  preparation 
for  war  form  the  chief  element  in  the  life  both  of  the 
individual  and  the  community.  Thus  the  power  of  the 
paramount  chief,  or  king,  was  almost  absolute ;  since, 
although  he  consulted  his  council  of  lesser  chiefs,  he  was 
not  bound  to  follow  their  advice.  The  "  town,"  or 
chief  seat  of  the  tribe,  was  planned  for  defence ;  the 
king's  hut  and  the  cattle  pen  being  placed  in  the  centre 
of  an  outer  circle  of  huts,  and  the  whole  often  surrounded 
by  a  rude  fence,  or  stockade.  Among  these  military 
tribes  it  was  the  custom  to  cultivate  only  just  so  much 
land  as  was  required  to  satisfy  their  temporary  needs, 
and  to  depend  upon  cattle  for  their  permanent  supply  of 
food  :  while  for  the  maintenance  of  their  herds,  they 
looked  rather  to  constant  and  successful  forays  upon 
the  weaker  and  more  settled  tribes  than  to  the  results  of 
their  own  care  and  industry.  Among  the  industrial 
Bantu — the  tribes  of  Dr.  Theal's  second  group — the 
authority  of  the  paramount  chief  was  limited  both  by 
the  council  of  lesser  chiefs,  and,  in  matters  of  great 
importance,  by  the  will  of  the  whole  body  of  tribesmen, 
as  declared  in  the  "  pitso,"  or  general  assembly.  The 
dwellings  of  which  their  "  town  "  consisted  were  disposed 
merely  as  chance  or  convenience  suggested,  and  were 

1  Theal,  The  Beginning  of  South  African  History,  p.  31. 

31 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

unguarded  by  any  stockade,  although  they  were  often 
larger  and  more  commodious  than  the  single-roomed  bee- 
hive shaped  hut  of  the  military  tribes.  Not  only  were 
the  fertile  lands  around  the  "  town  "  well  and  permanently 
cultivated,  but  among  these  industrial  tribes  crafts, 
such  as  the  working  of  metals,  pottery,  and  even  the 
weaving  of  a  coarse  cloth  of  cotton,  were  practised. 

If  we  except  the  Basutos, l  who  have  held  their  own  in 
their  mountain  fortresses  against  all  assailants,  not 
excluding  the  British  regulars,  the  industrial  Bantu, 
although  more  advanced  in  the  arts  of  peace,  were 
quite  unable  to  resist  the  attacks  of  the  military  tribes. 
Their  sole  means  of  preservation  was  flight,  and  their 
hope  of  security  lay  in  settling  in  distant  regions  where  the 
land  was  too  poor  to  arouse  the  cupidity  of  their  enemies. 
The  power  and  ruthlessness  of  the  great  chiefs  of  the 
military  Bantu  may  be  realised  from  the  record  of  one  of 
their  number — Tshaka,  the  grandfather  of  Ketch  way  o. 
It  is  estimated  that  this  one  chief  caused  the  death  of 
no  less  than  1,000,000  human  beings,  and  devastated 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  country,  between  the  years 
1812  and  1828.  The  passage  of  his  army  was  marked 
by  the  bones  of  human  beings  and  animals,  picked  clean 
by  the  scavenger  birds  and  beasts,  which  formed  the 
sole  remains  of  the  tribes  which  he  had  attacked ;  for, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  handsomest  boys  and 
girls  whom  he  incorporated  into  his  people,  and  such 
cattle  as  he  chose  to  carry  off,  he  left  no  living  thing  alive. 

The  general  distribution  of  the  military  and  industrial 
Bantu  is,  therefore,  the  outcome  of  their  respective  char- 
acteristics. The  former,  as  we  have  seen,  are  to  be  found 
in  possession  of  the  well-watered  and  fertile  country 
between  the  great  mountain  ranges  and  the  Indian  Ocean, 

1  They  owed  their  national  existence — they  are  a  composite 
people — mainly  to  the  sagacity  and  courage  of  a  single  chief, 
Moshesh. 

32 


INDUSTRIAL   TRIBES 

and  in  the  sub-tropical  region,  to  the  north-east  of  the 
Transvaal ;  the  latter,  with  the  exception  of  the  Basutos, 
have  been  for  the  most  part  driven  westward  to  the  arid 
and  almost  rainless  plains  of  the  central  plateau  and  the 
deserts  beyond  it. 

But  weak  as  were  the  industrial  Bantu  in  comparison 
with  the  more  virile  tribes  of  the  east  coast,  they  never- 
theless succeeded  in  reaching  a  more  advanced  stage  of 
civilisation,  and  in  the  place  of  warrior  despots  such  as 
Tshaka  and  Ketchwayo,  they  have  produced  sagacious 
rulers  like  Moshesh  and  Khama.  The  former  built  up  a 
respectable  native  state  largely  out  of  fugitives  from 
other  tribes,  many  of  whom  were  deserters  from  the  ranks 
of  Moselekatse,  the  chief  of  the  Matabele  Zulus,  and 
himself  a  runaway  general  of  Tshaka's  army.  In  1852, 
after  an  engagement  at  Mount  Berea  in  which  the  Basutos 
had  more  than  held  their  own  against  the  British  troops 
despatched  against  them  by  Sir  George  Cathcart,  the 
Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony,  Moshesh  gave  proof  of  his 
exceptional  political  wisdom.  Instead  of  being  deceived 
by  his  temporary  military  success,  he  determined  to 
utilise  his  good  fortune  to  obtain  favourable  terms  of 
peace,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  missionary  adviser, 
Mr.  Casalis,  he  sent  the  following  diplomatic 
communication  to  the  British  lines : 

"  THABA  BOSIGO, 
"  Midnight,  December  20/A. 

"  Your  Excellency, — This  day  you  have  fought  against 
my  people,  and  taken  much  cattle.  As  the  object  to 
which  you  have  come  is  to  have  a  compensation  for 
Boers,1  I  beg  you  will  be  satisfied  with  what  you  have 
taken.  I  entreat  peace  from  you.  You  have  chastised — 

1  i.e..  the  Boers  of  what  was  then  the  Orange  River  sovereignty, 
and  afterwards  the  Free  State.  They  were  at  this  date  under 
British  authority,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  British  Government 
to  protect  them  from  the  depredations  of  their  native  neighbours, 
the  Basutos. 

33 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

let  it  be  enough  ;  and  let  me  be  no  longer  considered 
an  enemy  to  the  Queen.  I  will  try  all  I  can  to  keep  my 
people  in  order  for  the  future. 

"  Your  humble  Servant, 

"  MOSHESH." 

And  sixteen  years  later,  when  the  Basutos  had  ceded 
the  rich  corn-lands  known  to-day  as  "  The  Conquered 
Territory  "  to  the  Boers  of  the  Free  State,  and  were 
threatened  with  dispersion,  if  not  extinction,  he  sought 
the  protection  of  the  Imperial  Government  in  diction 
which  has  rarely,  if  ever,  been  surpassed  in  poetic  beauty. 
"  Let  me  and  my  people  rest  and  live  under  the  large  folds 
of  the  flag  of  England  before  I  am  no  more."  So  Moshesh 
prayed  ;  and  Basutoland  from  that  date  up  to  the  present 
— with  the  exception  of  nine  years  during  which  it  was 
annexed  to  the  Cape  Colony — has  remained  under  the  direct 
authority  of  the  High  Commissioner  for  South  Africa. 

A  charming  picture  of  Khama,  who  perhaps  stands 
first  among  the  enlightened  and  capable  rulers  of  the 
industrial  Bantu,  is  given  by  Mr.  Theodore  Bent.  He 
is  drawn  as  he  was  seen  by  the  author  of  The  Ruined 
Cities  of  Mashonaland  in  his  new  capital  of  Palapye1 
in  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate.  "  Khama  pervades 
every  thing  in  his  town,"  writes  Mr.  Bent.  "  He  is  always 
on  horseback,  visiting  the  fields,  the  stores,  and  the 
outlying  kraals.  He  has  a  word  for  everyone ;  he  calls 
every  woman  '  my  daughter/  and  every  man  '  my  son  ' 
he  pats  the  little  children  on  the  head.  He  is  a  veritable 
father  of  his  people  ....  In  manner  the  chief  is 
essentially  a  gentleman,  courteous  and  dignified."2 

1  Before  the  occupation  of  Bechuanaland  (1884),  Khama's 
tribe,  the  Ba-mangwato,  were  shut  up  in  the  valley  of  the 
Shoshong  river,  which  he  could  defend  against  the  attacks  of 
the  Matabele ;  but  with  the  establishment  of  British  authority, 
he  was  able  to  remove  to  the  more  fertile  district,  in  the  midst 
of  which  he  founded  Palapye. 

8  Ruined  Cities  of  Mashonaland,  p.  26. 

34 


NATIVE    POLICY 

As  before  indicated,  accounts  of  the  chief  civilising 
agencies  now  applied  to  the  South  African  natives  will  be 
given  in  subsequent  chapters.  They  include  (1)  Mis- 
sionary enterprise,  (2)  Industrial  and  domestic  employ- 
ment under  European  mastership,  and  (3)  Education  and 
Training  in  crafts  furnished  by  the  State.  It  will  be  seen, 
therefore,  that  these  are  subjects  which  can  be  discussed, 
each  in  its  proper  context,  most  appropriately  as  part  of 
the  life  of  the  European  community.  The  reader,  how- 
ever, will  find  it  convenient  to  learn  at  once  what  has 
been  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain  towards  the  South 
African  native  population  as  a  whole  during  the  past 
century,  and  how  this  attitude  has  varied  from  time  to 
time,  either  under  compulsion  of  events,  or  merely  to  suit 
the  political  exigencies  of  the  Home  Government  for  the 
time  being  in  office. 

In  the  Native  policy  of  Great  Britain,  then,  five 
stages  of  development  may  be  distinguished,  which 
reveal  on  the  whole  a  gradually  increasing  assumption 
of  responsibility.  They  are  in  chronological  order  as 
follows  : 

I.  From  the  date  of  the  permanent  occupation  of  the 
Cape  (1806)  to  the  Great  Trek  (1835-8). 

II.  From  the  Great  Trek  to  the  recognition  of  the 
independence  of  the  Boers  under  the  Conventions  of 
1852  and  1854. 

III.  From    the    Conventions    to    the    Discovery    of 
Diamonds  (1870). 

IV.  From     the     discovery     of     diamonds     to     the 
Bechuanaland  Settlement  (1884-5). 

V.  From  this  date  to  the  Union  (1910). 

During  the  first  period  the  aim  of  British  Statesmen 
was  to  interfere  as  little  as  possible  with  the  natives 
outside  the  Cape  Colony,  but  to  encourage  missionary 
enterprise  as  the  agency  by  which  the  gradual  advance 
in  civilisation  of  the  Bantu  tribes  could  be  secured.  It 

35 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

was  the  time  when  public  opinion  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  was  affected  powerfully  by  the  great  humani- 
tarian and  philanthropic  movements  of  the  early  nineteenth 
century,  of  which  the  abolition  of  slavery  within  the 
Empire  in  1833  was  a  signal  result.  The  consistent 
pursuit  of  this  policy  was,  however,  rendered  impossible 
by  the  necessity  of  protecting  the  lives  and  property 
of  the  Dutch  and  British  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  dis- 
tricts of  the  Cape  Colony  against  the  periodic  incursions 
of  the  warlike  Kafir  tribes  beyond  the  frontier.  In  the 
fulfilment  of  their  duty  the  British  Government  was 
reluctantly  compelled  to  enter  upon  more  than  one 
Kafir  war,  to  extend  the  frontier  of  the  Cape  Colony 
eastwards,  and  to  enter  into  definite  political  relations 
with  the  paramount  chief  of  the  powerful  Amakosa 
tribes  whose  territory  neighboured  with  its  own. 
During  the  whole  of  this  period  there  lurked  in  the  mind 
of  the  Home  Englishman  the  disquieting,  but  utterly 
erroneous  idea  that  the  colonists  and  not  the  natives  were 
the  aggressors ;  that,  in  fact,  these  costly  Kafir  wars 
were  provoked  by  the  European  settlers  to  serve  as 
excuses  for  gaining  more  land,  or  to  provide  opportunities 
for  commercial  profit  in  supplying  the  soldiers  with  food 
and  transport.  The  period  ended  in  disaster.  Hintza, 
the  paramount  chief,  proved  unable,  or  unwilling,  to 
restrain  the  Kosas,  15,000  of  whom,  on  Christmas  Day, 
1834,  invaded  the  colony.  The  measures  taken  by  the 
Governor,  Sir  Benjamin  Durban,  after  six  months'  hard 
fighting  to  secure  a  defensible  frontier  were  reversed, 
and  compensation  was  refused  by  the  Home  Government 
to  the  colonists,  Dutch  and  English,  whose  houses  had 
been  burnt  or  pillaged,  and  whose  cattle,  sheep,  and 
horses,  had  been  carried  off  by  the  Kafirs.  In  the  course 
of  the  next  two  years  some  10,000  Dutch  farmers,  in 
disgust  at  this  failure  to  protect  them  from  the  Kafirs, 
and  distressed  by  the  emancipation  of  their  slaves, 

36 


AFTER   THE   GREAT   TREK 

left  the  colony  to  find  new  homes  beyond  the  Orange 
River. 

II.  In  the  second  period  the  attempt  to  secure  order 
among  the  natives  by  means  of  alliances  with  powerful 
chiefs  was  pursued  on  a  larger  scale.  This  "  larger  scale  " 
was  rendered  necessary  by  the  fact  that  the  "  Emigrant 
farmers/'  or  Boers,  had  made  settlements  in  what  are 
now  the  Transvaal,  Free  State,  and  Natal  provinces, 
and  in  the  course  of  doing  so  had  driven  Moselezatze 
and  his  Matebele  Zulus  beyond  the  Limpopo  in  1838, 
and  destroyed  the  power  of  Dingaan,  the  treacherous  king 
of  the  Zulus,  by  their  victories  over  him  in  1838  and  1840. 
The  difficulties  of  the  British  Government  were  enor- 
mously increased  by  the  Great  Trek.  The  existence  of 
the  small  but  warlike  and  ambitious  communities  founded 
by  the  Boers,  on  the  very  edge  of  the  great  masses  of  the 
Bantu  population,  constituted  a  double  peril.  On  the 
one  hand,  there  was  the  danger  of  the  Boers  arbitrarily 
dispossessing  the  natives  of  tracts  of  land  which  right- 
fully belonged  to  them,  and  without  which  they  would 
be  unable  to  maintain  themselves  and  find  pasture  for 
their  cattle ;  on  the  other,  there  was  the  possibility 
that  one  or  other  of  the  Boer  "  Republics,"  in  spite  of 
the  courage  and  skill  in  shooting  which  the  Voertrekkers 
displayed,  would  be  at  any  moment  exterminated  by  a 
sudden  attack  of  the  Bantu  in  overwhelming  numbers. 
While  desiring,  therefore,  to  keep  their  responsibilities 
within  the  narrowest  limits,  the  British  Government  were 
nevertheless  compelled  to  provide  the  Boers  with  a 
protection  against  the  natives  sufficient  to  leave  them 
no  excuse  for  seeking  to  become  the  subjects  of  another 
European  power,  and  at  the  same  time  to  satisfy  philan- 
thropic opinion  in  England  by  shielding  the  natives 
from  general  injustice,  and  in  particular  from  needless 
or  wrongful  loss  of  territory,  at  the  hands  of  the  Boers. 
In  order  to  accomplish  these  objects,  Natal,  the  only 

37 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Boer  settlement  which,  having  a  seaboard,  permitted  of 
direct  communication  with  Europe,  was  occupied,  and 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  missionaries  the  policy  of 
entering  into  alliances  with  native  chiefs  was  largely 
extended.  In  addition  to  Sandile,  the  legal  heir  of 
Gaika  and  paramount  chief  of  the  Kosas,  treaties  were 
made  with  Adam  Kok,  the  head  of  the  Griquas,  with 
Moshesh,  the  chief  of  the  Basutos,  and  with  Faku,  chief 
of  the  Pondos  ;  and  these  chiefs  in  return  for  the  support 
of  the  British  Government  undertook  to  maintain  order 
within  their  respective  territories.  In  this  way  a  barrier 
of  native  states  was  to  be  placed  between  the  northern  and 
eastern  borders  of  the  Cape  Colony  and  the  great  mass  of 
uncivilised  natives,  disturbed  as  they  were  by  the  move- 
ments of  the  Emigrant  Boers.  This  policy  proved 
unsuccessful.  The  chiefs  were  too  weak  to  protect 
themselves  against  the  Boers,  and  too  unscrupulous  to 
fulfil  their  obligations  to  the  British  Government.  In  the 
end  both  the  Boers  and  the  chiefs  had  to  be  reduced  to 
order  by  force  of  arms,  the  frontiers  of  the  Cape  Colony 
were  advanced  northwards  and  eastwards,  and  the  country 
between  the  Orange  and  Vaal  rivers  was  declared  British 
territory  under  the  name  of  the  Orange  River  sovereignty. 
The  most  disastrous  effect  produced  by  this  policy  was 
the  infliction  of  the  terrors  and  losses  of  another  Kafir 
invasion  upon  the  eastern  settlers  of  the  Cape  Colony. 
The  "  War  of  the  Axe  "  (1846-8),  due  to  the  faithlessness 
of  Sandile,  was  scarcely  concluded  before  the  restless 
Kosa  tribes  again  revolted ;  and  for  another  two  years, 
commencing  at  the  end  of  the  year  1850,  the  British  and 
Dutch  farmers  and  the  British  troops  fought  side  by  side. 
At  length,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  European  control 
was  again  established  over  the  wild  and  treacherous  mass 
of  Bantu  population  that  lay  immediately  eastward  of 
the  Colonial  border.  But  the  war  was  costly  to  England 
— both  in  men  and  money.  In  a  single  disaster,  the 

38 


NON-INTERVENTION 

wreck  of  the  transport  Birkenhead, l  some  400  soldiers  were 
drowned ;  and  heavy  compensation  was  paid  to  the 
border  farmers  for  the  losses  inflicted  upon  them  by 
the  Kafirs — losses  due  to  the  reversal  of  the  measures 
taken  by  Sir  Benjamin  Durban  in  1835  for  the  protection 
of  the  frontier.  The  question  whether  the  burden  of 
these  constant  Kafir  wars  was  not  altogether  out  of 
proportion  to  the  value  of  South  Africa  was  raised,  and 
a  "  cold  fit  "  followed,  which  led  to  a  change  of  policy. 
The  British  Government  now  took  upon  itself  the  per- 
manent administration  of  the  natives  on  the  eastern  border 
of  the  Cape  Colony  and  in  Natal,  while  at  the  same  time 
they  recognised  the  independence  of  the  Boers,  both  in 
the  Transvaal  and  Orange  River  sovereignty,  under  the 
terms  of  the  Conventions  of  Sand  River  (1852)  and 
Bloemfontein  (1854),  and  virtually  decided  to  leave  the 
Boers  and  the  natives  outside  the  three  British  pos- 
sessions— the  Cape  Colony,  Kaffraria,  and  Natal — to 
settle  matters  for  themselves. 

III.  From  the  date  of  the  Conventions  to  the  discovery 
of  diamonds  (1870)  the  non-intervention  policy  was 
maintained  with  fair  consistency.  It  was  strongly  con- 
demned by  Sir  George  Grey,  who  was  Governor  of  the 
Cape  from  1854  to  1862,  mainly  on  the  ground  that  it 
led  to  a  definite  seism  in  the  small  European  community 
of  South  Africa — or  the  "  dismemberment  "  of  South 
Africa,  as  he  called  it.  Nevertheless  it  gave  a  welcome 
breathing  space  to  the  mother  country  so  far  as  her  South 
African  responsibilities  were  concerned,  and  it  allowed 
the  local  government  of  the  Cape  Colony  to  make  a  serious 
beginning  of  the  task  of  civilising  the  Bantu  people  in 

1  She  was  wrecked  off  Danger  Point,  eastwards  of  Capetown. 
on  February  26th,  1852,  as  she  was  bringing  reinforcements  to 
the  frontier.  The  soldiers  stood  at  arms  on  the  deck  of  the 
sinking  ship  to  allow  the  women  and  children  to  be  got  off 
in  the  boats,  and  remained  motionless  until  the  word  to  leap 
overboard  and  save  themselves  was  given. 

39 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Kaffraria.  Just  as  a  belief  in  the  poverty  of  the  resources 
of  South  Africa,  and  a  fear  that  the  country  would  never 
be  able  to  attract  and  support  a  considerable  British 
population,  had  lain  at  the  bottom  of  the  non-inter- 
vention policy,  so  a  surprising  demonstration  of  the 
falsity  of  this  belief  led  to  the  abandonment  of  the  policy. 
The  discovery  of  diamonds  brought  the  establishment  of 
British  authority  over  Griqualand  West — that  is,  outside 
the  limits  of  the  three  colonies.  The  British  Govern- 
ment believed  that  they  had  got  a  good  title  to  this  new 
territory  from  a  native  chief,  Waterboer  ;  but  the  Free 
State  Boers  claimed  the  Diamond  Fields  as  a  part  of  their 
republic,  and  in  the  event  it  was  shown  that  they  and  not 
Waterboer  were  the  rightful  owners.  In  any  case  this 
step — apart  from  the  dispute  with  the  Free  State — would 
have  impelled  the  British  Government  to  take  an  active 
part  once  more  in  regulating  the  conflicts  which  had 
arisen  between  the  Boers  and  the  natives.  The  most 
serious  of  these  arose  out  of  the  circumstance  that  the 
western  border  of  the  Transvaal  had  never  been  properly 
delimited.  If  the  Boers  had  been  allowed  to  displace 
the  peaceful  natives  lying  on  their  western  border, 
Bechuanaland,  the  high  road  to  Central  Africa  which 
Livingstone  had  so  far  kept  open, x  would  have  been 
closed.  Nevertheless  it  is  extremely  probable  that  the 
Boers,  by  dint  of  mere  pertinacity,  would  have  established 
themselves  permanently  in  Bechuanaland,  had  not  the 
discovery  of  diamonds  drawn  the  British  flag  northward, 
and  created  a  powerful  British  community  close  to  the 
territory  which  the  Boers  coveted. 

IV.  But  the  Boers  of  the  Transvaal  were  in  conflict 
not  only  with  the  industrial  tribes  on  their  western  bor- 
der. On  the  east  they  had  very  different  neighbours. 

1  "  The  Boers  resolved  to  shut  up  the  interior,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  open  the  country."  Livingstone  (after  the  plunder  of 
his  house  by  a  Boer  commando  in  1852). 

40 


THE    ZULU   WAR 

There,  both  within  and  without  their  Republic,  were  great 
masses  of  military  Bantu,  and  among  them  were  the 
Zulus,  who  in  the  years  of  non-intervention  had  grown  up 
into  a  formidable  power  under  Ketch  way  o.  In  view  of 
the  seriousness  of  the  situation  arising  out  of  the  weakness 
of  the  Transvaal  and  the  increasing  power  of  the  military 
Bantu,  the  British  Government  set  about  to  undo  the  work 
of  the  Conventions,  in  order  that  the  handful  of  Europeans 
might  present  a  united  front  against  the  menace  of  the 
dark-skinned  masses.  In  1877  the  Transvaal  was 
annexed,  and  at  the  same  time  active  measures  were 
taken  for  bringing  about  a  union  of  the  Boer  Republics 
with  the  British  Colonies  in  a  federal  system.  The 
Federation  proposals  of  Lord  Carnarvon  failed  ;  but  in 
the  endeavour  to  put  them  into  effect,  Sir  Bartle  Frere 
performed  a  service  of  the  utmost  importance  alike  for 
South  Africa  and  for  England.  In  1878  he  checked  the 
threatened  disturbance  of  the  solid  mass  of  Bantu 
population  lying  between  the  Cape  Colony  and  Natal, 
and  saved  the  settlers  of  the  eastern  province  of  the 
former  from  a  long  protracted  Kafir  war,  by  his  prompt 
suppression  of  the  insurgent  Gaikas  and  Galekas  ;  and  in 
the  year  following  he  rescued  the  Colony  of  Natal  from 
invasion  by  Ketch  way  o,  and  by  the  destruction  of  the 
Zulu  power  frustrated  a  concerted  movement  of  revolt 
among  the  military  Bantu  from  the  Limpopo  to  Kaffraria. 
The  movement  was  nothing  less  than  the  manifestation 
of  a  "  common  purpose  "  and  a  "  general  understanding  " 
among  the  natives  of  South  Africa  to  shake  off  the 
domination  of  the  Europeans  ;  and  of  the  movement 
itself  Ketchwayo  was  "the  head-centre,"  and  his  25,000 
perfectly  trained  and  disciplined  warriors  the  "  main 
strength/'  By  the  resolute  action  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere 
the  supremacy  of  the  white  man  was  established  in  South 
Africa.  Since  this  date  (1877-80)  there  have  been  local 
native  wars  or  rebellions  from  time  to  time — the  last  was 

41 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

in  1906 — but  there  has  been  no  general  movement  of 
revolt  on  the  part  of  the  dark-skinned  population  as  a 
whole  against  the  Europeans. 

The  Zulu  war,  necessary  as  it  was  to  South  Africa, 
was  both  costly  and  inopportune  for  England.  It  was 
followed  by  the  failure  of  Lord  Carnarvon's  federation 
proposals,  and  the  revolt  of  the  Transvaal  Boers.  These 
unwelcome  events  produced  another  "  cold  fit."  The 
Transvaal  was  given  back  to  the  Boers  in  1881,  and 
the  British  Government  declared  its  intention  of  not 
again  intervening  by  force  of  arms  in  the  affairs  of  South 
Africa,  unless  they  were  assured  of  the  active  support  of 
the  majority  of  their  own  subjects  in  that  province  of  the 
Empire.  The  ambition  of  the  Transvaal  under  President 
Kruger,  and  in  particular  the  renewed  attempts  of  the 
Boers  to  extend  their  western  borders  to  the  detriment 
of  the  commercial  interests  of  the  Cape  Colony,  alienated 
the  sympathies  of  the  Colonial  Dutch,  and  led  to  a  direct 
appeal  for  Imperial  intervention,  in  response  to  which 
the  British  Government  occupied  Bechuanaland  by  an 
armed  force  under  Sir  Charles  Warren  in  1884-5.  The 
attempted  expansion  of  the  Transvaal  westwards  had 
been  accompanied  by  the  establishment  of  Germany  in 
South-west  Africa  ;  and  these  events,  which  in  combina- 
tion threatened  to  cut  off  the  Cape  Colony  from  Central 
Africa,  compelled  the  British  Government  to  declare 
that  the  whole  of  the  central  region  intervening  between 
the  Diamond  Fields  and  the  Zambezi,  was  within  their 
"  sphere  of  influence."  In  taking  this  step  to  secure  the 
trade  route  to  the  interior  a  very  important  advance  in 
native  policy  had  also  been  made.  This  was  nothing  less 
than  to  place  formally  all  the  natives  of  South  Africa 
who  were  not  enclosed  within  the  borders  of  the  two 
Republics  or  the  British  Colonies,  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  Imperial  Government.  The  significance  of  this 
new  departure  will  be  seen  from  Article  IV  of  the 

42 


NATIVE    ADMINISTRATION 

new  commission,  which  was  then  (1884)  issued  by  Queen 
Victoria  to  the  Governor  of  the  Cape  and  High 
Commissioner  for  South  Africa. 

And  we  do  hereby  require  and  empower  you  ...  to  take  all 
such  measures,  and  to  do  all  such  things  in  relation  to  the  native 
tribes  in  South  Africa  with  which  it  is  expedient  that  we  should 
have  relations,  and  which  are  not  included  within  the  territory 
of  either  of  the  Republics,  or  of  any  foreign  power,  as  are  lawful 
and  appear  to  you  to  be  advisable  for  maintaining  our  possessions 
in  peace  and  safety,  and  for  promoting  the  peace,  order,  and  good 
government  of  the  tribes  aforesaid,  and  for  preserving  friendly 
relations  with  them. 

V.  From  the  time  of  the  Bechuanaland  Settlement  up 
to  the  date  of  the  Union  the  development  of  the  European 
communities  has  been  accompanied  by  the  establishment, 
or  extension,  of  the  simple  but  fairly  effective  system  of 
European  administration  which  to-day  embraces  the 
entire  native  population  of  South  Africa.  As  the  British 
Colonies  grew  in  wealth  and  population  they  gradually 
relieved  the  Imperial  Government  of  its  responsibility 
for  large  areas  peopled  wholly,  or  mainly,  by  Bantu. 
Thus  in  1887  Natal  annexed  Zululand.  In  1895  the  Cape 
Colony  incorporated  into  itself  the  southern  part  of 
Bechuanaland,  and  by  the  annexation  of  Pondoland 
assumed  the  administration  of  the  whole  of  the  dense 
native  population  between  its  eastern  borders  and 
Natal.  The  occupation  of  Mashonaland  by  the  Chartered 
Company  in  1890,  and  the  subsequent  foundation  of 
what  is  now  Southern  Rhodesia,  brought  something  like 
500,000  Bantu  under  the  control  of  European  magistrates, 
without  adding  to  the  immediate  responsibilities  of  the 
Imperial  Government.  Thus  gradually  between  the  year 
1884  and  the  outbreak  of  the  great  Boer  war  (1899-1902) 
a  network  of  European  Magistrates  and  Commissioners 
was  spread  over  all  the  native  areas.  To-day  the  Union 
Government  has  4,680,474  "  other  than  Europeans," 
of  whom  the  great  majority  are  natives  of  the  Bantu  race, 
under  its  control.  Outside  of  the  Union,  the  Imperial 

43 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Government  remains  responsible  for  more  than  500,000 
dark-skinned  people  in  Basutoland,  Swaziland,  and  the 
Bechuanaland  Protectorate ;  and  Southern  Rhodesia 
has  a  native  population  of  750,000.  Thus  we  have  a 
total  of  6,000,000  "  other  than  European  "  people  for 
South  Africa  as  defined  ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  Northern  Rhodesia — i.e.,  the  territory  of  the  Chartered 
Company  northward  of  the  Zambezi — there  is  yet  another 
1,000,000  of  Bantu  population. 

The  character  of  the  European  control  thus  finally 
established  over  the  natives  of  South  Africa  after  a  century 
and  a  half  of  constantly  recurring  wars  and  rebellions, 
naturally  varies  with  the  circumstances  of  the  various 
tribes  or  races.  The  position  of  the  Basutos,  and  of  the 
Bechuanas,  where  the  chief  rules  under  the  guidance 
of  an  Imperial  Commissioner  is  almost  analogous  to  that 
of  a  "  protected  state  "  in  India.  In  the  province  of 
Natal,  in  the  remote  districts  lying  to  the  north  and  north- 
east of  the  Transvaal,  in  Pondoland,  and  in  the  "  reserves  "  l 
generally,  considerable  authority  has  been  left  to  the 
chiefs,  and  native  (customary)  law  is  administered  by 
them  and  by  the  European  Magistrates,  who  are,  of  course, 
supported  by  native  and  European  police.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  majority  of  the  semi-civilised  natives 
living  within  the  four  provinces  of  the  Union,  with  the 
exception  that  they  are  subject  to  special  laws  and  regu- 
lations applicable  only  to  them  and  not  to  Europeans, 
are  controlled  by  the  ordinary  legal  and  administrative 
authorities  of  the  state.  In  this  class  are  included  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  African  natives,  who  are 
regularly  employed  in  manual  labour  of  various  kinds 
under  European  masters.  And  lastly,  apart  from  both 
the  "  red/1  or  tribal  natives,  and  the  semi-civilised  manual 
labourers,  there  is  a  considerable  population  of  educated 

1  i.e.,  areas  kept  for  the  sole  occupation  of  natives.  Europeans 
are  excluded  from  them,  and  the  land  cannot  be  alienated. 

44 


THE    NATIVE    FACTOR 

and  civilised  Bantu  and  "  coloured  "  people.  In  the  Cape 
Province  these  civilised  natives  are  admitted  to  the  Par- 
liamentary franchise ;  but  elsewhere  within  the  Union 
the  educated  native,  with  rare  exceptions,  although 
placed  on  an  equality  with  the  European  in  legal  and 
administrative  matters,  is  still  deprived  of  any  voice  in 
the  government  of  the  country. 

This  brief  outline  of  the  character  and  conditions  of  the 
native  population,  and  of  the  policy  pursued  by  the  British 
Government  in  dealing  with  them,  suggests  two  reflections. 

The  control  of  the  native  races  of  South  Africa,  and  the 
consequent  possibility  of  raising  them  in  the  scale  of 
civilisation,  have  been  won  by  the  sword.  In  this,  and 
in  their  unhappy  conflicts  with  the  colonists  of  the  second 
European  nationality,  the  British  of  South  Africa  have 
had  a  larger  and  more  varied  experience  of  war  than  any 
other  similar  community  within  the  Empire.  In  the 
necessary  and  long-protracted  task  of  establishing  Euro- 
pean authority  over  the  native  races  the  colonists  of 
both  nationalities,  Dutch  and  British,  have  played  a  part, 
but  by  far  the  heaviest  share  of  the  burden  both  in  lives 
and  in  treasure  has  been  borne  by  the  latter.  The  British 
of  South  Africa  are,  therefore,  a  people  who  have  passed 
through  their  baptism  of  fire. 

The  second  reflection  is  this.  The  native  population 
is  at  present  the  determining  factor  in  the  social  and 
political  life  of  South  Africa.  The  foregoing  review 
will  have  revealed  how  largely  the  action  of  the  British 
Government  in  this  province  of  the  Empire  has  been 
inspired  and  conditioned  by  its  relations  with  the  native 
races.  The  difficulty  of  these  relations  has  been  enor- 
mously increased  by  the  presence  in  the  country  of 
Europeans  of  another  nationality,  whose  sentiments  in 
respect  of  native  affairs  were  markedly  less  liberal  than 
those  of  the  people  of  the  British  Isles.  The  native 
question  will  still  bulk  largely  in  the  life  of  the  young 

45 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

South  African  nation  which  has  just,  as  it  were,  attained 
its  majority,  although  its  problems  will  be  of  a  different 
order.  The  task  of  the  Union  Government  will  be  made 
the  easier  by  the  fact  that  it  inherits  the  honourable 
traditions  of  the  British  Government.  On  this  aspect 
of  the  native  policy  of  Great  Britain  I  may  perhaps  be 
allowed  to  recall  some  words  written  fifteen  years  ago. 

To  the  honour  of  England  it  stands  written  on  the  page  of 
history  that,  from  the  first  assumption  of  the  government  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  she  has  resolutely  set  herself  the  task  of 
meting  out  justice  between  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  Colonists 
and  the  Natives  ;  that  by  assuming  this  attitude  she  rendered 
her  government  unacceptable  to  the  mass  of  the  original  European 
inhabitants  ;  but  that,  in  the  face  of  the  difficulties  and  the  bitter 
opposition  thus  created,  she  again  and  again  compelled  the  most 
stubborn  of  these  European  offenders  to  do  justice  to  the  coloured 
races  whose  champion  and  protector  she  was. l 

1  Contemporary  Review,  1896. 


46 


CHAPTER    III 

THE   SEMITIC   OCCUPATIONS 

IT  is  to  Egypt,  the  one  seat  of  civilisation  which  existed 
in  Africa  prior  to  the  Graeco-Roman  era,  that  we  naturally 
turn  for  information  upon  the  earliest  history  of  other 
parts  of  the  continent.  But  what  Egypt  has  to  tell  us  of 
South  Africa  is  both  vague  and  meagre.  Ethiopia,  the 
Abyssinia  of  to-day,  was  known  to  the  Egyptians  2,000 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ ;  but  the  first  record  of 
any  acquaintance  with  the  continent  further  south  is 
that  which  is  afforded  by  the  monuments  of  the  temple  of 
Queen  Hatasou,  at  Deir-el-Bahari.  In  these  sculp- 
tures, referred  variously  to  a  date  ranging  from  1700  to 
1200  B.C.,  we  have  an  account  of  the  conquest  of  the 
Land  of  Punt,  and  the  spoils  of  the  conquest  as  pictured 
on  the  hieroglyphics  were  ebony,  ostrich  feathers,  the 
tusks  of  elephants,  and  ingots  of  gold.  If  we  assume 
that  these  articles  were  the  produce  of  the  conquered 
districts,  and  further  that  the  land  of  Punt  was  identical 
with  the  Mashonaland  of  to-day,  and  one  of  the 
sources  of  supply  of  King  Solomon's  Ophir,  then  it 
follows  that  the  Egyptians  from  the  age  of  Queen 
Hatasou  onwards  were  acquainted  with  the  region 
south  of  the  Zambezi  where  lie  the  oldest  gold-workings 
of  South  Africa. 

To  the  knowledge  of  South-east  Africa  obtained  by  the 
conquest  of  Punt,  and  by  whatever  commercial  and 
political  intercourse  may  have  arisen  out  of  it,  the  Egyp- 
tians appear  to  have  added  nothing  until  the  rise  of  the 
Phoenicians  as  a  maritime  power.  These  people,  seated 
at  Tyre  and  Sidon  on  the  east  coast  of  the  Mediterranean, 

47 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

and  drawing  supplies  of  cedar  and  oak  for  their  ship- 
building from  Lebanon,  became  a  great  world  power  ; 
and,  in  addition  to  the  business  arising  from  their  colonies 
and  trading  stations  in  Africa,  Spain  and  Britain,  main- 
tained a  carrying  trade  which  brought  the  great  empires 
of  Babylon  and  Assyria  in  Asia  into  commercial  relations 
with  Egypt  and  Greece.  Utica,  the  first  colony  of  the 
Phoenicians,  on  the  north  coast  of  Africa,  was  founded  in 
1100  B.C.  ;  Carthage,  the  rival  of  Rome,  about  800  B.C.  ; 
and  300  years  later  Hanno,  the  Carthaginian  admiral, 
established  the  authority  of  his  Republic  as  far  down  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa  as  Sierra  Leone.  On  the  east  coast 
of  Africa  the  Phoenicians  originated,  or  supervised  and 
developed,  the  extraction  of  gold  in  the  mineralised 
regions  between  the  Zambezi  and  the  Limpopo.  The 
Phoenicians  proper,  while  apparently  sometimes  trans- 
porting the  gold  and  other  produce  of  South-east  Africa 
in  their  own  ships  to  the  Red  Sea  ports,  and  thence  to 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  appear  for  the  most  part  to  have  main- 
tained communication  with  this  particular  "  Tarshish," 
or  wealthy  region,  through  the  commercial  system  of 
that  branch  of  the  Phoenician  family  which  had  settled 
in  Yemen,  or  Southern  Arabia. *  It  was  by  these  latter, 
the  Sabaeo-Arabians, 2  that  the  actual  occupation  of  the 
gold-bearing  country  was  made,  and  the  general  work  of 
mining  carried  on,  through  the  agency  of  African,  or 
imported  Asiatic  labour,  or  of  both.  In  addition  to  the 
development  of  South-east  Africa,  the  Sabaeans  also 
collected  the  produce  of  India  and  the  Far  East,  and  both 
in  the  age  of  Soloman  (circa  1000  B.C.)  and  later  in  the 
era  of  Graeco-Roman  civilisation,  they  made  their  seats 
in  Southern  Arabia — the  Ophir  of  Solomon  and  the  Arabia 
Felix  of  the  Romans — the  emporium  from  which  the  gold 

1  The  Phoenicians  are  supposed  to  have  migrated  from  Chaldsea 
to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  thence  to  Arabia  and  Syria. 
*  The  kingdom  of  Saba  (Hebrew,  Sheba)  of  the  Bible. 

48 


THE    PHCENICIANS 

and  precious  things  of  the  East  were  distributed  to  the 
great  centres  of  civilisation  on  the  coasts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Phoenicia  herself  was  the  first  to  benefit ;  and 
her  principal  city,  Tyre,  in  the  words  of  Zechariah, 
"  heaped  up  silver  as  the  dust,  and  fine  gold  as  the  mire 
of  the  streets."  In  the  Graeco-Roman  age,  after  the  fall  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  Alexandria  and  Rome  became  the  centres 
to  which  the  riches  of  the  East  were  attracted.  The 
ignorance  of  the  civilised  world  of  2,000  years  ago  as  to 
the  precise  localities  from  which  it  drew  its  supplies  of 
the  precious  metals  is  largely  to  be  attributed  to  the 
jealousy  with  which  the  Sabseans  maintained  their 
position  as  the  commercial  intermediaries  between  the 
Mediterranean  powers  and  the  East — both  India  and 
South-east  Africa.  India  was  known  through  the  conquests 
of  Alexander  ;  but  it  was  Arabia  and  not  Africa  with 
which  the  educated  Roman  of  the  time  of  Horace  was 
familiar  as  the  source  of  the  world's  gold  supply.  And 
so  the  Roman  poet  speaks  of  Arabia  when  he  tells  the 
millionaire  of  that  day — 

Intactis  opulentior 

Thesauris  Arabum  et  divitis  Indiae1 — 

that  "if  he  had  all  the  wealth  of  Arabia  and  the 
sumptuous  East  to  himself,"  it  could  not  save  his  soul 
from  fear,  nor  his  neck  from  the  halter  of  Death.  With 
the  commencement  of  the  modern  era,  when  the 
Portuguese  navigators  had  explored  the  coast  of 
Africa  and  opened  an  ocean  pathway  to  India,  a 
glimmering  of  the  truth  came  to  Europe.  A  century 
later  we  find  Milton  in  Paradise  Lost  reflecting  the  com- 
mon surmise  of  his  day,  that  the  gold  of  the  old  world 
came  actually  from  South-east  Africa,  and  not  from 
Arabia.  When  Michael  in  consoling  Adam  for  the  loss  of 
Paradise  shows  "  what  shall  come  in  future  days  "  to 
him  and  to  his  offspring,  and  makes  him  see  from  the 
1  Odes,  III,  24. 

49 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

highest  hill  in  Paradise  "  all  earth's  kingdoms  and  their 
glory,"  we  read  : 

.  .  .  Nor  could  his  eye  not  ken 
The  empire  of  Negus  to  his  utmost  port 
Ercoco,  and  the  less  maritime  kings 
Mombasa,  and  Quiloa,  and  Melind, 
And  Sofala,  *  thought  Ophir,  to  the  realm 
Of  Congo  

The  Phoenician  occupation  of  the  gold-bearing  districts 
of  Rhodesia  gives  us  what  seems  to  be  our  first  complete 
page  of  South  African  history.  It  is  the  old  and  familiar 
story  of  Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba.  A  thousand 
years  before  the  Christian  era  began,  King  Solomon,  who 
was  in  alliance  with  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  built  a  fleet  at 
Ezion-Geber,  his  port  on  the  Red  Sea,  to  bring  a  supply  of 
gold  from  an  "  Ophir  "  lying  to  the  south.  The  records  of 
this  enterprise,  and  its  sequel,  are,  of  course,  to  be  found 
in  the  books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles  ;  but  it  will  be  well 
for  the  reader  to  have  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the 
evidence  which  connects  the  Phoenicians  with  this  part  of 
South  Africa,  before  he  considers  the  narrative  itself. 

The  most  valuable  and  reliable  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  upon  this  interesting  subject  is  naturally 
to  be  found  in  the  data  provided  by  the  archseological 
researches,  which  have  been  carried  on  since  the  foundation 
of  the  colony  in  1890,  and  are  still  in  progress.  At  the 
same  time  a  renewed  study  of  the  accounts  of  South-east 
Africa  written  by  the  Portuguese  commanders  and 
missionaries  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
and  an  examination  of  the  traditions  of  the  Bantu  popu- 
lation of  the  country,  have  yielded  a  body  of  evidence 
which  at  once  supplements  and  interprets  the  testimony 
of  the  ancient  remains.  Obviously  it  is  only  the  bare 
headings  of  this  threefold  evidence  that  can  be  indicated 

1  Sofala  is  a  little  south  of  Beira,  the  port  of  Rhodesia.  The 
Portuguese  town  was  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  port  from  which 
the  Sabaeans  shipped  the  gold  from  the  mines  in  the  interior. 

50 


ANCIENT   GOLD    MINES 

within  the  space  at  our  disposal ;  but  even  such  a  summary 
is  impressive. l 

Archceological.  In  the  gold-bearing  area  of  Rhodesia, 
700  by  600  miles  in  extent,  there  are  found  a  number  of 
rock  mines  which  collectively  form  "  the  most  extensive 
gold  mines  sunk  to  depth  on  rock  during  some  prehistoric 
times  yet  known  to  the  world,"  and  some  500  ancient 
ruins.  The  former  are  tunnelled  and  excavated  to  water 
level,  i.e.,  a  depth  of  150  to  200  feet,  and  sunk  on  hard 
refractory  rock,  and  mining  experts  have  estimated  that 
at  least  £75,000,000  worth  of  gold  must  have  been 
extracted  from  them.  The  methods  of  mining  pursued  in 
all  these  prehistoric  workings  are  the  same — a  fact  which 
points  to  a  single  source  of  exploitation — and  they  are 
identical  with  those  of  ancient  miners  in  Arabia  and 
India.  None  of  the  gold  was  used  in  the  country,  but  it 
was  all  exported  ;  and  the  line  of  communication  between 
the  mining  area  and  the  coast  was  the  Sabi  river,  and  not 
the  Zambezi. 

Most  of  the  large  and  deep  mines  of  the  Selukwe,  Gwanda, 
Belingwe,  Sabi,  and  Manica  districts  are  undoubtedly  ancient, 
while  those  in  the  Mazoe  district  are  of  both  prehistoric  and 
mediaeval  times. 

Among  the  ruins  are  "  many  scores  of  colossal  build- 
ings of  dressed  stone  blocks."  Mr.  Hall's  summary  of 
the  features  of  the  original  Zimbabwe  (Phoenician 
temple-fortress)  type  is  this  : 

Finest  construction  ;  granite  blocks  dressed  by  chisels  and 
hammers ;  elaborate  drainage  system ;  evidences  of  Nature 
worship  :  birds  on  beams,  conical  tower,  ornate  phalli,  cylinder 
or  linga,  sun  images,  monoliths  ;  foreign  decorative  designs  ; 

1  A  full  account  of  the  Rhodesian  remains  so  far  explored,  and 
of  the  very  interesting  questions  to  which  they  give  rise,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  works  of  Mr.  R.  N.  Hall :  The  Ancient  Ruins  of 
Rhodesia  (Hall  &  Neal,  published  1902),  and  Prehistoric  Rhodesia 
(Hall,  published  1909).  The  statement  in  the  text  is  based  upon 
the  facts  and  conclusions  contained  in  the  latter  volume.  Where 
quotation  marks  are  used,  the  words  are  those  of  Mr.  Hall. 

51 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

oldest  class  of  relics,  such  as  astragali  ingot  mould  ;   great  wealth 
in  chaste  gold  ornaments  ;    no  woodwork  left. l 

The  late  Theodore  Bent,  who  had  conducted  archaeolo- 
gical researches  in  Asia  Minor  and  Persia  before  he  made 
his  examination  of  the  Rhodesian  mines  in  1891,  sums  up 
the  results  of  his  explorations  in  the  following  sentence  : 

Here,  near  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  far  nearer  to  Arabia  than 
India  and  China,  and  other  places  which  they  (the  Sabaeo- 
Phoenicians)  were  accustomed  to  visit,  not  only  is  there  evidence 
of  the  extensive  production  of  gold,  but  also  evidence  of  a  cult 
known  to  Arabia  and  Phoenicia  alike  :  temples  built  on  accurate 
mathematical  principles,  containing  kindred  objects  of  art, 
methods  of  producing  gold  known  only  to  have  been  employed 
in  the  ancient  world,  and  evidence  of  a  vast  population  devoted 
to  the  mining  of  gold. 2 

In  addition  to  these  prehistoric  remains,  there  are 
stone  buildings  of  an  inferior  order,  in  which  the  charac- 
teristic Phoenician  features  are  not  found.  These,  and 
other  remains  of  a  still  ruder  type,  are  believed  to  have 
been  constructed  at  much  later  periods  by  Bantu  in 
imitation  of  the  prehistoric  buildings,  and  with,  or 
without,  Asiatic  supervision.  Thus  Mr.  Hall  holds  that 
"  beyond  all  possible  shadow  of  doubt "  there  were 
"  three  periods  of  both  mining  and  building  in  Rhodesia." 
The  first  was  the  rock-mining,  or  prehistoric  period. 
In  the  second  period,  which  was  partly  prehistoric  and 
partly  historic,  the  river-sand  washing  for  gold  was  carried 
on.  The  ruins  of  this  period  are  poor,  and  without  gold 
or  phallic  emblems.  The  Bantu  tribes  had  begun  to 
enter  the  country  from  Central  or  Northern  Africa,  and 
the  process  of  "  Kafirisation  "  had  set  in.  The  third 
period  is  marked  by  the  abandonment  of  washing  for 
gold,  and  the  ruins  are  those  of  "  native  made  barricades 
on  hills  and  stone  walls  of  cattle-kraals." 

The  ethnological  evidence  is  mainly  of  a  negative 
character.  Native  African  tradition  points  to  the 

1  Prehistoric  Rhodesia,  p.  473,  et  seq. 

*  The  Ruined  Cities  of  Mashonaland,  pp.  193-4. 

52 


THE    ZIMBABWES 

buildings  of  the  Zimbabwe  type  as  being  of  extreme 
antiquity ;  since  it  contains  no  trace  of  any  knowledge 
of  the  people  who  built  the  Zimbabwes,  and  no  suggestion 
of  any  Bantu  race  having  had  a  hand  in  the  work.  In 
this  it  is  supported  by  the  historical  evidence  of  the 
earliest  Portuguese  accounts  of  the  country.  When  the 
Portuguese  navigators  arrived  in  1505,  they  were  informed 
by  the  Moors,  who  had  been  in  occupation  of  the  Sofala 
coast  since  the  eleventh  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
that  the  Great  Zimbabwe  was  "very  ancient,"  and 
that  they  believed  that  the  "  barbarians,"  i.e.,  the  Bantu,1 
had  nothing  to  do  with  its  construction. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  light-skinned,  industrial 
negroids,  believed  to  have  settled  on  the  central  plateau 
of  Southern  Rhodesia  1,000  years  ago,  and  known  as  the 
Ma-Karanga,  display  "  physical  and  linguistic  features  " 
that  indicate  a  strain  of  Semitic  blood  acquired  in  pre- 
historic times.  Mr.  Hall  says  that  there  are  "  over  forty 
distinctly  Semitic  customs  to  be  found  among  this  family 
of  the  Bantu  race,  most  of  which  are  of  pre-Koranic  origin." 
He  writes  :  "  Livingstone  and  all  European  scientists 
consider  these  as  dating  from  some  altogether  indefinite 
time  prior  to  the  Koran — A.D.  600 — and  as  such  not  to  be 
explained  by  any  influence  as  late  as  that  of  the  Islamic 
influence  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries."  The 
explanation  of  this  phenomenon  which  Mr.  Hall  suggests 
is  this.  These  industrial  Bantu  having  arrived  South  of 
the  Zambezi  about  the  tenth  century,  or  some  100  to 
200  years  later  than  the  military  tribes,  inter-married 
with,  and  absorbed  a  decadent  remnant  of  the  Sabaean, 
or  Indian,  or  Persian  gold-mining  population  of  the 
prehistoric  era,  whom  they  found  in  the  country. l 

An  outline  of  the  historical  evidence  (other  than  the 
Biblical  record)  which  connects  the  Sabaeans  with 
Rhodesia  will  be  given  in  due  course.  One  item,  however, 

1  Prehistoric  Rhodesia,  p.  84,  note,  et  seq. 

53 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

to  which  Mr.  Hall  attaches  great  importance,  may  be 
mentioned  here.  This  is  the  fact  that  the  area  of  the 
mediaeval  kingdom,  marked  on  the  early  Portuguese 
and  Dutch  maps  as  "  Monomotapae  Imperium,"  does 
not  correspond  with  that  of  the  gold-bearing  region 
occupied  by  the  Sabasan,  or  other  prehistoric,  miners. 
The  word  "  Monomotapa  "  was  admittedly  the  title  of  a 
Bantu  dynasty,  and  the  "  Empire  "  of  this  line  of  great 
chiefs  was  a  Bantu  system,  but  the  gold  mining  which 
the  subjects  of  the  Monomotapa  carried  on  during  the 
period  of  the  Portuguese  occupation  of  the  Zambezi 
region  (1505-1760),  was  conducted  by  primitive  methods 
within  the  intelligence  of  the  Bantu  race,  and  had  no 
connection  with  the  rock  mines  and  stone-built  remains 
of  the  prehistoric  miners.  The  contention  that  the  pre- 
historic remains  may  have  been  the  work  of  a  native 
African,  or  Bantu,  people,  which  is  based  upon  the  sup- 
posed identity  of  the  site  of  the  Great  Zimbabwe  and  the 
"  capital "  of  the  Monomotapa's  kingdom,  therefore  falls 
to  the  ground.  On  this  head  Mr.  HaU  writes  :  "  The 
Portuguese  records  most  explicitly  show  that : 

"  The  Ma-Karanga  did  not  occupy  any  stone  buildings, 
1505-1760,  or  within  any  traditionary  times. 

"  The  Monomotapan  Capital,  and  also  the  centre  of  the 
gold  trade  of  the  Ma-Karanga  (1505-1760,  and  even  in 
traditionary  times),  was  at  Masapa  in  the  Mazoe  district, 
over  300  miles  from  Zimbabwe. 

"  The  '  very  ancient  '  ruins  of  Zimbabwe  were  in  the 
district  of  Toro  (  =  ancient)  in  the  Kingdom  of  Sabia, 
where  were  '  the  most  ancient  mines  known  in  the 
country '  (De  Barros),  which  Kingdom  of  Sabia  the 
records  declare  was  never  visited  by  the  Portuguese,  who 
never  saw  Zimbabwe,  and  from  which  kingdom  the 
Ma-Karanga,  it  is  stated,  traded  no  gold  whatever."1 

This  evidence  is  sufficient  at  least  to  show  that  there 

1  Prehistoric  Rhodesia,  p.  99. 

54 


SOLOMON'S    OPHIR 

is  nothing  extravagant  in  the  belief  that  the  Ophir  of  Solo- 
mon was  Arabia  Felix,  and  the  actual  source  from  which  the 
Sabaeans  of  this  era  drew  their  gold  supply,  the  miner- 
alised region  south  of  the  Zambezi  now  forming  a  part 
of  Southern  Rhodesia.  The  Biblical  narrative,  which 
in  this  setting  assumes  a  new  interest  and  meaning, 
is  almost  identical  in  the  Kings  and  the  Chronicles. 
In  the  former  book  it  runs  : 

And  King  Solomon  made  a  navy  of  ships  in  Eziongeber,  which 
is  beside  Eloth,  on  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  land  of  Edom. 
And  Hiram  sent  in  the  navy  his  servants,  shipmen  that  had 
knowledge  of  the  sea,  with  the  servants  of  Solomon.  And  they 
came  to  Ophir  and  fetched  from  thence  gold,  four  hundred  and 
twenty  talents,  and  brought  it  to  King  Solomon.1 

In  both  the  Kings  and  Chronicles  this  account  is  im- 
mediately followed  by  the  narrative  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba's 
visit,  which  in  both  books  is  introduced  by  the  words, 
"  And  when  the  Queen  of  Sheba  heard  of  the  fame  of 
Solomon  ....  she  came  to  prove  him  with  hard 
questions."  As  the  result  of  the  good  relations  estab- 
lished by  the  personal  intercourse  between  the  heads  of 
the  Jewish  and  Sabaean  peoples,  it  would  appear  that 
Solomon  was  subsequently  allowed  by  the  latter  to  trade 
direct  with  the  countries  in  which  their  supplies  of  gold 
and  other  valuable  commodities  were  actually  obtained. 
For  later  on  in  the  narrative  we  are  told,  in  explanation 
of  the  extraordinary  abundance  of  gold  which  marked  the 
reign  of  Solomon,  that  "  the  King  had  at  sea  a  navy  of 
Tharshish  with  the  navy  of  Hiram."  Or,  as  it  is 
expressed  in  the  Chronicles,  "  the  King's  ships  went  to 
Tharshish  with  the  servants  of  Hiram."  2  The  products 
obtained  from  "  Tharshish  "  were  "  gold  and  silver,  ivory, 
and  apes  and  peacocks,"  and  the  time  occupied  in  each 
expedition  was  three  years ;  "  every  three  years  once  came 
the  ships  of  Tharshish."  As  the  word  "  Tharshish," 

1  1  Kings,  ix,  v.  26-28. 
1  2  Chron.,  ix,  v.  21. 

55 

5— (3139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

like  "  Ophir,"  is  a  generic  term  used  to  indicate 
any  source  from  which  rich  natural  products  or  merchan- 
dise might  be  obtained,  the  countries  visited  by  Solomon's 
merchant  fleets  in  this  three  years'  voyage  may  well  have 
been  both  the  "  Tharshish  "  of  the  Sabaean  goldfields 
in  South-east  Africa,  and  the  "  Tharshish  "  of  India  and 
the  Far  East.  In  any  case,  the  length  of  the  voyage 
shows  that  the  maritime  commerce  of  Solomon's  Red 
Sea  ports,  when  fully  established,  embraced  not  only  the 
Sabaean  emporium  in  South  Arabia,  but  the  actual  coun- 
tries from  which  this  emporium  was  itself  supplied  with 
gold,  precious  stones,  spices,  and  the  rest. 

In  addition  to  the  colonisation  or  occupation  of  the 
north  and  east  coasts,  and  the  development  of  the  gold 
mines  of  South-east  Africa,  Phoenician  seamen  accom- 
plished the  circumnavigation  of  the  entire  Continent  from 
east  to  west,  at  a  date  stated  to  be  600  B.C.  The  account 
of  this  remarkable  feat  of  ancient  seamanship  is  to  be  found 
in  Herodotus.  After  comparing  Europe  to  Asia  and 
Africa,  he  continues  : 

For  Libya  (Africa)  is  clearly  surrounded  by  sea,  with  the 
exception  of  the  space  covered  by  the  isthmus  which  joins  it  to 
Asia.  Neko,  the  Egyptian  king,  was  the  first  to  demonstrate 
this.  Upon  the  abandonment  of  work  upon  the  canal  from  the 
Nile  to  the  Arabian  Gulf,  he  despatched  some  Phoenician  navi- 
gators with  instructions  to  sail  back  round  the  Continent  to  the 
northern  sea  through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  thus  reach 
Egypt.  The  Phoenicians  accordingly  started  from  the  Red  Sea 
and  sailed  over  the  Southern  Sea.  And  whenever  their  supplies 
gave  out,  they  put  in  to  the  shore,  and  proceeded  to  sow  the 
land  with  seed.  They  did  this  at  the  several  points  of  the  Con- 
tinent which  they  reached  in  the  course  of  their  voyage,  and 
waited  for  the  harvest.  After  they  had  reaped  the  corn,  they 
set  sail,  and  thus,  after  two  years  had  gone  by,  in  the  third  year 
they  bent  their  course  through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  came 
to  Egypt.  And  they  said — what  I  refuse  to  believe,  though 
others  may  do  so  if  they  like — that  in  sailing  round  Libya  they 
had  the  sun  to  the  right  of  them.  The  fact  of  Libya  being 
surrounded  by  sea  was  first  established  by  this  expedition.  * 

1  Book  IV,  p.  42. 

56 


THE    PHOENICIAN    MARINERS 

As  a  point  of  evidence,  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
to  us  to  whom  the  regions  south  of  the  equator  are  almost 
as  familiar  as  those  lying  to  the  north  of  it,  the  statement 
which  Herodotus  refuses  to  believe  as  being  contrary  to 
all  human  knowledge — viz. :  that  the  Phoenician  mariners, 
sailing  west,  had  the  sun  on  their  right — brings  conclusive 
proof  of  the  reality  of  this  feat  of  ancient  seamanship. 
Since  it  is  obvious  that  no  one  who  wished  to  obtain 
credence  for  an  invented  story  would  have  introduced  an 
incident  which  he  must  have  known  would  have  seemed 
impossible  to  the  civilised  world  of  his  day. 

Later,  Herodotus  tells  us, J  Sataspes  was  despatched  by 
Xerxes  on  the  same  errand  ;  only  in  this  case  the  navigator 
started  westwards  from  Egypt.  Having  passed  safely 
through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  he  rounded  a  promontory 
called  "  Solium,"  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  then 
proceeded  southwards  until  his  ship  "  stuck  fast,"  and 
he  was  forced  to  return  by  the  way  he  had  come  without 
accomplishing  his  task.  His  account  of  the  furthest 
point  to  which  he  sailed  suggests  that  he  reached  the 
region  inhabited  by  Hottentots  ;  since  the  people  on  the 
shore  were  a  "  diminutive  "  but  not  a  "  black  "  race, 
clothed  in  garments  made  from  palm  trees,  who  fled  to 
the  mountains  on  the  approach  of  the  Carthaginian  ship, 
leaving  Sataspes  to  possess  himself  of  their  sheep. 
This  supports  the  belief,  based  on  other  sources  of  evi- 
dence, that  the  Bantu  did  not  appear  in  South-Central 
Africa  until  approximately  the  ninth  century  of  the 
Christian  era  ;  and  in  particular  that  the  "  natives  " 
of  Rhodesia  during  the  whole  period  of  the  Sabaean 
occupation  were  either  Bushmen  or  Hottentots,  or  both. 

One  other  paragraph  from  Herodotus  is  worth  quotation. 
Speaking  of  ^Ethiopia,  which  means  for  him  the  most 
easterly,  as  well  as  the  most  southward,  of  the  inhabited 
regions  of  Africa,  he  says  : 

1  Book  IV,  p.  43. 

57 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

It  produces  much  gold,  elephants'  tusks  so  large  that  it 
takes  both  hands  to  carry  them,  all  kinds  of  wild  trees,  ebony, 
and  the  largest,  finest,  and  most  long-lived  of  mankind. l 

Five  hundred  years  later  than  the  time  of  Herodotus, 
in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  Egypt  and  all 
Northern  Africa  formed  a  part  of  the  vast  political 
system  of  which  Imperial  Rome  was  the  centre  ;  Roman 
expeditions  penetrated  southwards  on  both  sides  of  the 
Red  Sea  ;  Roman  tourists  travelled  up  the  Nile,  and 
inscribed  their  names  upon  the  walls  of  the  Ptolemaic 
Temple  of  Isis  at  Philae.  The  civilised  world  of  this  day 
knew  the  valley  of  the  Nile  as  far  south  as  Meroe,  the 
fertile  region  stretching  from  Khartum  southwards 
and  enclosed  by  the  fork  of  the  White  and  Blue  Niles  ; 
and  it  was  familiar  with  the  main  features  of  the  east 
coast  of  Africa  as  far  south  as  Zanzibar. 

The  author  of  the  Periplus,  or  Round-Voyage,  of  the 
Erythrean  Sea  (i.e.,  the  Red  Sea  and  Indian  Ocean), 
who  is  now  said  to  have  been  a  certain  Basil  of  Alexandria, 
living  in  the  reign  of  Nero  (A.D.  54-68),  takes  us  further 
south.  This  writer  not  only  gives  accounts  of  the  chief 
ports  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  and  mentions  the  island 
of  Menuthias,  identified  with  Madagascar,  but  reveals 
two  facts  of  cardinal  importance.  The  first  is  that  his 
knowledge  of  the  east  coast  extended  far  enough  south- 
wards to  enable  him  to  state  definitely  that  the  Indian 
Ocean  curved  westwards,  and  united  with  the  sea  upon 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Continent.2  The  second  is  that 
at  this  epoch  the  Sabaeans  were  still  in  occupation  of  the 
east  coast  of  Africa.  The  Sabaean  King  Kharabit  was 
in  possession  of  the  coast  from  Mombasa  to  an  indefinite 
extent  southwards.  His  possession  was  based  upon 

1  Book  III,  p.  114. 

8  At  Prasum,  a  promontory  of  ^Ethiopia,  "  an  ocean  curves 
towards  the  sunset,  and,  stretching  along  the  southern  extremities 
of  Ethiopia,  Libya  and  Africa  amalgamates  with  the  Western 
Sea."  (Translated  by  Bent.) 

58 


PTOLEMY'S    AFRICA 

"  ancient  right/'  and  the  Sabaeans  were  in  the  habit  of 
sending  transports,  manned  by  sailors  who  were  familiar 
with  the  places  on  the  coast  and  with  the  language  of  the 
natives.  As  further  evidence  of  the  maritime  supremacy 
of  the  Sabaeans  of  this  day  in  the  eastern  seas,  he  tells 
us  that  Musa,  Aden,  and  other  ports  near  the  entrance  of 
the  Red  Sea,  were  the  recognised  entrepots,  where  the 
merchandise  and  produce  collected  by  the  Sabaean  fleets 
were  transhipped  into  Egyptian  and  Phoenician  vessels 
to  be  carried  to  Egypt  and  finally  to  Rome,  the  centre  of 
the  civilised  world. 

A  hundred  years  later  than  the  date  of  the  Periplus, 
another  and  more  famous  student  of  Alexandria,  Claudius 
Ptolemaeus  (circa  150  A. D.),  drew  the  maps  and  wrote  the 
eight  books  of  geographical  description,  in  which  he 
sought  to  present  a  view  of  the  entire  surface  of  the 
inhabited  world  before  the  minds  of  his  readers.  In 
picturing  Africa  he  makes  the  southern  part  of  the 
Continent  extend  eastwards  in  unknown  tracts  until  it 
unites  with  further  Asia,  thus  enclosing  the  waters  of  the 
Indian  Ocean  by  land  in  the  manner  of  his  own  Mediter- 
ranean. It  is  strange  that  one  of  the  brilliant  group  of 
learned  Alexandrines — and  one  moreover  whose  aim 
was  to  gather  together  the  fruits  of  Greek  geographical 
researches — should  have  fallen  into  a  cardinal  error 
from  which  Herodotus's  record  of  the  Phoenician  voyage 
round  Africa  alone  should  have  saved  him.  With  this 
exception  Ptolemy's  account  of  Africa  to  the  sixteenth 
parallel  of  South  Latitude,  or  roughly  to  the  Zambezi, 
was  based  upon  knowledge.  The  great  tract  of  territory 
which  he  called  Agisumba,  has  been  identified  with  the 
country  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Zambezi, 
and  the  word  itself  is  regarded  by  Father  Torrend  as 
indicating  the  presence  of  a  group  of  Bantu  tribes  ;  the 
Ma-Zimba,  Ma-Sumba,  La-Sumba  and  others. *  In 

1  Comparative  Grammar  of  the  South  African  Bantu  Languages. 

59 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

September,  1869,  Livingstone,  then  fresh  from  his  ex- 
plorations of  these  regions,  wrote  that  Ptolemy's  references 
to  the  Central  African  Lakes  were  "  substantially  correct 
geography." x  In  other  respects  the  Ptolemaic  conception 
of  the  world  represented  a  great  advance  in  geographical 
knowledge,  and  it  was  on  the  basis  of  his  work,  made 
known  during  the  Middle  Ages  through  Arabic  transla- 
tions of  the  Greek  original,  that  the  explorers  and  students 
of  the  modern  era  began  that  more  scientific  and  extended 
study  of  the  earth's  surface  to  which  the  polar  expeditions 
of  to-day  will  bring  completion. 

The  little  that  has  to  be  told  of  Africa  during  the 
centuries  intervening  between  the  partition  of  the  Roman 
Empire  (A.D.  395)  and  the  commencement  of  the  modern 
era  can  be  set  down  in  a  few  sentences.  The  period  in 
which  Egypt  remained  a  part  of  the  Eastern,  or  Byzantine, 
half  of  the  Roman  system  was  closed  in  A.D.  638  by  the 
invasion  of  the  Saracens.  On  December  22nd,  A.D.  640, 
Alexandria  opened  its  gates  to  Amr  Ibn-el-'As,  the  vic- 
torious general  of  the  Khalif  Omar.  Near  the  site  of 
Memphis,  Fostat  (Cairo),  the  Mohammedan  capital  of 
Egypt,  was  founded,  and  in  the  course  of  the  remaining 
years  of  the  seventh  century  the  Saracens  overran 
Mediterranean  Africa.  During  the  eighth  and  ninth 
centuries  the  Mohammedans  of  Arabia  and  Persia  estab- 
lished themselves  in  Abyssinia  and  spread  down  the  east 
coast  of  Africa.  The  Sultanates  of  Magadosho,  Brava, 
Melinde,  Mombasa,  and  Kilwa  (Quiloa),  with  settlements 
in  Madagascar  and  Sofala,  marked  the  permanence  of 
their  rule  ;  and  Arabian  travellers  explored  the  interior, 
traversing  the  Continent  from  east  to  west,  until  ulti- 
mately the  Moslem  states  on  the  north  and  west  coasts 
were  united  by  a  system  of  trade  routes  with  those  of  the 
east  coast. 

1  Letter  in  the  Grey  Collection,  Capetown  :  Quoted  by  Mr. 
Hall  in  Prehistoric  Rhodesia,  p.  357. 

60 


THE    MOHAMMEDANS 

The  great  library  of  Alexandria  had  been  destroyed, 
but  the  Arabs  in  their  period  of  greatness  were  skilled 
in  literature  and  the  sciences.  The  information  gained 
in  the  course  of  their  political  and  commercial  expansion 
in  Africa  was  duly  recorded  in  writing.  Alexandria 
remained  the  chief  emporium  through  which  the  merchan- 
dise of  the  East  passed  to  the  European  world  ;  and 
Cairo  and  Aden  were  the  centres  and  depositories  of  the 
geographical  knowledge  of  Eastern  Africa  and  the  Far 
East,  which  enabled  Vasco  da  Gama  in  1497  to  find  an 
ocean  pathway  from  Europe  to  India. 


61 


CHAPTER    IV 

EUROPEAN   COLONISATION — PORTUGAL    IN    AFRICA 

THE  history  of  modern  Africa  is  a  record  of  the  gradual 
establishment  of  European  authority  over  almost  the 
entire  area  of  the  Continent.  The  justification  for  this 
process,  which  in  its  later  phases  has  been  aptly  called 
the  "  partition  of  Africa/'  is  to  be  found  in  the  circumstance 
that  the  great  mass  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  tropical 
Continent  are  markedly  inferior,  both  mentally  and 
physically,  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  Nor  is  the  tutelage 
of  the  original  inhabitants  of  Africa  any  new  thing. 
Before  the  rise  of  Greece  and  Rome — the  most  effective 
agencies  for  civilisation  known  to  the  ancient  world — 
Africa  owed  its  partial  development  to  the  presence  of 
Asiatic  races.  During  the  period  intervening  between  the 
conclusion  of  the  Graeco-Roman  and  the  commencement 
of  the  modern  era,  whatever  of  civilisation  it  maintained 
it  owed  again  to  the  intrusion  and  settlement  of  new 
populations  from  the  East.  With  the  modern  era  the 
turn  of  Europe  to  take  Africa  in  hand  came  round  once 
more.  Only  now  the  south,  and  not  the  north  of  the 
Continent  was  destined  to  be  the  chief  seat  of  European 
influence  and  colonisation. 

The  record  begins  with  the  enterprise  and  foresight 
of  one  who  was  closely  related  by  blood  to  the  royal 
family  of  England — the  Infante  Henry  of  Portugal. 
The  mother  of  this  prince  (b.  1394,  d.  1460)  was  Philippa 
of  Lancaster  ;  Henry  IV  of  England  was  his  uncle,  and 
Henry  V,  the  victor  of  Agincourt  and  conqueror  of  France, 
was  his  cousin.  The  Moors,  against  whom  he  had  fought 
in  northern  Africa,  were  his  hereditary  foes  ;  and  the 
task  he  set  himself  was  nothing  less  than,  by  the  discovery 

62 


THE   CAPE    DISCOVERED 

of  an  ocean  route  to  India,  to  render  his  own  country 
in  particular,  and  western  Europe  in  general,  independent 
of  the  services  of  both  Moors  and  Turks,  as  the  middlemen 
through  whose  hands  the  produce  of  the  East  then  reached 
the  merchants  of  the  West.  With  this  object  in  view, 
he  founded  an  observatory  and  a  naval  college,  and  in 
other  respects  devoted  himself  to  the  promotion  of 
geographical  research  and  the  art  of  navigation.  In 
the  successive  voyages  upon  which  Portuguese  seamen 
were  despatched  by  him  the  coast  of  Africa  was  marked 
with  the  padroes  de  descoberta  (crosses  of  discovery) 
which  gradually  crept  further  and  further  south.  In 
1448  a  fort  was  erected  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  John 
II  of  Portugal,  by  permission  of  the  Pope,  assumed  the  title 
of  "  Lord  of  Guinea."  When  Henry  died  his  task  was 
still  unfinished ;  but  the  work  which  he  had  begun 
was  none  the  less  destined  to  be  accomplished.  In 
1471  the  Equator  was  reached ;  and  still  the  arid  coast 
line  stretched,  endlessly  as  it  seemed,  southward  between 
the  Portuguese  navigators  and  the  eastward  course  they 
sought.  Even  Bartholomew  Diaz  would  scarcely  have 
rounded  the  Cape,  in  1486,  but  for  an  accident.  Driven 
helplessly  before  the  wind  for  thirteen  days  southward,  he 
steered  east  and  failed  to  make  the  land.  Altering  his 
course  to  the  northward,  he  reached  the  coast  of  Africa 
again  a  little  eastward  of  Cape  Agulhas,  the  southernmost 
point  of  the  Continent ;  and  then  sailing  east  crept  along 
the  coast  as  far  as  the  little  island  in  Algoa  Bay,  which 
from  the  "  cross  of  discovery,"  duly  planted  by  Diaz, 
bears  to  this  day  the  name  of  "  Santa  Cruz."  This  was 
progress  indeed  ;  and  John  II  was  not  slow  to  recognise 
that  the  end  was  now  in  sight.  To  Diaz,  who  proposed 
to  name  the  dreadful  headland  where  the  storm  had 
seized  him,  the  "  Cape  of  Tempests  "  (Cabo  Torment oso), 
he  replied  :  "  Not  so  ;  but  call  it  rather  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  for  by  this  Cape  shall  we  sail  to  India."  And  at 

63 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  same  time  he  sent  two  agents  to  Cairo  and  Aden  to 
gain  information  concerning  the  east  coast  of  Africa  and 
the  route  to  India. 

Twelve  years  later  the  goal  was  reached.  In  July, 
1497,  in  the  reign  of  Emanuel  the  Fortunate,  Vasco  da 
Gama  set  sail  from  Portugal ;  by  November  he  had  reached 
the  Cape,  on  Christmas  Day  he  anchored  off  the  coast  of 
Natal, *  and  early  next  year  he  brought  his  ship  to  port 
at  Calicut,  on  the  west  coast  of  Hindostan.  In  September, 
1499,  he  was  back  in  the  river  at  Lisbon  with  his  ship 
laden  with  the  silks  and  spices,  pearls  and  gold,  that  he 
had  taken  on  board  at  Indian  ports.  Henceforward 
the  merchants  of  Lisbon,  and  of  Western  Europe,  could 
trade  direct,  and  no  longer  through  the  Moors  as  middle- 
men, with  the  wealthy  communities  of  India,  Java, 
Malacca,  China  and  Japan. 

It  had  taken  much  time  and  long-continued  effort  to 
fulfil  the  purpose  of  Henry  the  Navigator.  But  in  the 
course  of  this  effort  much  more  had  been  accomplished 
than  the  attainment  of  the  immediate  end  in  view,  im- 
portant as  it  was.  While  the  Portuguese  navigators 
were  endeavouring  to  reach  the  Far  East  by  sailing 
eastwards,  Spain,  closely  followed  by  England,  had 
accidentally  discovered  the  new  world  of  America  by 
despatching  Columbus  to  reach  the  Far  East  by  sailing 
westwards.  It  was  six  years  after  Diaz  had  rounded  the 
southernmost  point  of  Africa  and  found  a  clear  course 
eastwards,  that  Columbus  brought  the  little  fleet  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  anchor  off  the  Bahamas,  and 
learnt  that  a  huge  continent  stretching  almost  from  pole 
to  pole  lay  between  him  and  the  shores  he  sought.  In 
eight  years  more  Da  Gama  had  completed  the  work  of 
Diaz,  and  thus  the  closing  decade  of  the  fifteenth  century 
witnessed  the  two  discoveries  which  were  destined  to 
make  the  nations  of  western  Europe  into  colonising 

1  Hence  the  name  [dies]  "  Natalis." 

64 


PORTUGUESE    EAST    AFRICA 

powers,   and    eager    rivals  for  the    supremacy    of    the 
seas. 

In  this  seaward  expansion  of  western  Europe  Portugal 
led  the  way.  In  her  successful  effort  to  open  up  maritime 
communication  with  the  Far  East,  not  only  were  the 
coasts  of  Africa  occupied,  but  Brazil  was  colonised, 
Mexico  conquered,  and  the  Straits  of  Magellan  navigated. 
On  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  Sofala  was  taken  from  the 
Arabs  in  1505,  and  soon  afterwards  the  flag  of  Portugal 
was  flying  over  Melinde,  Mombasa,  the  island  of  Zanzibar, 
and  Magadosho,  together  with  Sena  and  other  ports  on 
the  Zambezi.  By  1520  the  Portuguese  had  wrested  the 
east  coast  ports  between  Cape  Gardafui  and  Delagoa 
Bay  from  the  Arabs,  and  possessed  themselves  of  the  east 
coast  trade.  In  the  middle  of  the  century  their  settlements 
in  India,  Java,  and  Malacca  were  united  into  a  single 
system,  over  which  a  Portuguese  Governor-General  of 
India,  living  at  Goa,  presided  ;  and  the  East  African 
ports,  with  a  Governor  at  Mozambique  or  Sofala,  con- 
tinued to  form  a  part  of  this  Indian  dominion  until  a 
hundred  years  later,  when  they  were  made  a  separate 
administration,  the  present  province  of  Mozambique. 

This  display  of  energy  on  the  part  of  the  little  kingdom 
of  Portugal  lasted  only  165  years  ;  that  is  from  the 
capture  of  Ceuta  in  1415  to  the  union  of  the  crowns  of  Spain 
and  Portugal  in  1580.  Barely  sixty  years  sufficed  to 
create  this  "  colossal  Portuguese  domination,  extending 
from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  shores  of  China  "  ;  the 
"  giant  edifice  "  which  has  been  since  then  "  levelled 
from  one  century  to  another  by  the  breath  of  events, 
as  if  it  had  been  made  of  sand." 1  The  Portuguese 
were  closely  f oUowed  to  the  East  by  the  seamen  and  mer- 
chants of  Spain,  Holland,  France,  and  England.  In 
the  development  of  this  new  trade  certain  points  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and  certain  convenient  islands,  were 

1  M.  Guillain,  in  L'Afrique  Orientale. 

65 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

occupied  by  these  nations  as  harbours  and  victualling 
stations  for  the  ships  they  employed  ;  but  by  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century  the  merchants  of  Holland  and  of 
England  had  alike  determined  to  make  an  organised 
effort  to  obtain  supremacy  in  the  Eastern  markets.  The 
English  East  India  Company  received  its  charter  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  in  1600,  and  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany was  founded  only  two  years  later.  The  original 
objective  of  both  these  great  trading  corporations  was 
Java,  not  continental  India  ;  and  both  in  turn,  in  order 
to  secure  their  interests  and  possessions  in  the  East 
Indies,  were  compelled  to  establish  themselves 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  In  the  case  of  the  Dutch 
Company,  the  unexpected  discovery  of  a  temperate 
climate  in  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Continent  caused 
their  occupation  to  develop  into  an  effective  and  per- 
manent colonisation ;  and  when,  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  England  was  constrained  by  the 
same  strategic  considerations  to  occupy  the  Cape,  it  was 
on  the  basis  of  the  colonisation  thus  accomplished  by  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  that  the  fabric  of  the 
European  South  Africa  of  to-day  was  gradually,  and 
laboriously,  erected. 

Portuguese  East  Africa,  even  more  directly  than  the 
Cape,  was  the  offspring  of  India.  But  the  circumstance 
which  gave  permanence  to  the  Dutch  occupation  of  the 
Cape,  the  temperate  character  of  the  climate,  was  wanting 
in  East  Africa — or,  more  correctly,  the  Portuguese  be- 
lieved it  to  be  wanting.  Then,  as  now,  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
hundred  miles  from  the  east  coast  there  were  high  plateaux 
or  mountainous  regions  where  Europeans  could  live  and 
thrive  ;  but  except  where  the  water-way  of  the  Zambezi 
gave  easy  communication  with  the  coast,  they  established 
no  inland  settlements.  In  particular  they  failed  to 
penetrate  from  Sofala  to  the  escarpment  of  the  central 
plateau  of  South  Africa,  behind  which  lay  the  fertile  and 

66 


SEARCH    FOR    GOLD    MINES 

temperate  uplands  of  what  is  now  Southern  Rhodesia. 
For  them,  therefore,  the  back-country  of  Mozambique 
meant  only  the  low-lying  and  pestiferous  lands  of  the 
coast  belt.  In  these  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  Portuguese  made  little  effort  to  establish  them- 
selves securely  in  the  hinterland  of  their  east  coast  ports. 
The  little  that  was  done  in  the  way  of  exploration  and 
development  was  the  work  of  the  missionaries ;  first 
the  Jesuits  and  then  the  Dominicans.  The  gold  still 
won  by  river-washing  and  rude  methods  of  quartz 
crushing  known  to  the  Bantu,  stimulated  them  to  enter 
into  relations  with  the  Bantu  potentate  styled  the 
Monomotapa ;  but  neither  military  expeditions  nor 
treaties  enabled  them  to  obtain  even  a  moderate  revenue 
from  this  source.  One  solid  advantage,  however,  they 
gained  from  their  relations  with  the  "  Monomotapae 
Imperium."  *  By  the  deed  of  gift  of  1607,  and  again  by  a 
second  treaty  in  1630,  the  control  of  the  "  gold  mines  " 
was  formally  granted  by  the  Monomotapa  to  the  King 
of  Portugal.  It  was  in  virtue  of  this  latter  document, 
produced  with  the  Bantu  chief's  mark  duly  affixed  to 
it,  that  the  Portuguese  were  successful  in  the  MacMahon 
Arbitration  2  of  1875,  thereby  winning  Delagoa  Bay,  the 
natural  port  of  the  Transvaal  Province,  and  a  factor  of 
great  importance  in  the  industrial  and  political  develop- 
ment of  South  Africa  during  the  last  forty  years.  By  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Mozambique 
authorities  had  practically  abandoned  their  endeavours 

1  I  quote  the  words  from  a  map  of  1623,  the  original  of  which 
is  in  the  Vatican. 

2  The  dispute  between  England  and  Portugal  for  the  coast 
north  of  Tongoland  up  to  the  Limpopo  was  submitted  to  Marshal 
MacMahon,    then   President   of   the   French   Republic.     In   his 
award,   issued   on   July  24th,    1875,   it  was  declared  that  the 
Portuguese  territory  on  the  East  Coast  of  Africa  extended  south- 
wards to  a  line  parallel  to  26°  30'  of  south  latitude,  drawn  from 
the  coast  to  the  Lebombo  Mountains,  which  form  the  boundary 
between  Swaziland  and  the  Transvaal. 

67 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

to  find  and  work  the  gold  mines  of  the  Monomotapa,  and 
even  ceased  to  carry  on  the  collection  of  gold  dust  from 
the  natives  of  the  interior  as  a  State  industry.  In  the 
place  of  this  illusory  and  disappointing  enterprise  they 
found  a  new  and  more  lucrative  source  of  revenue  in  the 
capture  and  exportation  of  native  Africans  as  slaves; 
and  from  the  year  1645  onwards  for  a  century  East 
Africa  supplied  large  numbers  of  these  unfortunate 
people  to  the  Brazils  and  other  Portuguese  colonies,  and 
occasionally  to  the  French  and  Dutch  possessions.  But 
the  commencement  of  the  slave  trade  inaugurated,  and 
was  in  a  large  measure  directly  responsible  for,  the 
decline  of  Portuguese  influence  in  East  Africa.  The  slave 
raids  drove  away  the  native  population  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Portuguese  settlements,  and  all  other 
commercial  dealings  with  the  tribes  of  the  interior, 
including  the  collection  of  gold,  became  more  difficult 
and  less  profitable.  The  Indian  dominion  was  menaced 
by  the  increasing  activity  and  success  of  the  Dutch  and 
British  in  Eastern  waters.  The  East  African  ports 
escaped  permanent  capture  ;  but  they  owed  their  im- 
munity to  the  pestiferous  climate  of  the  regions  in  which 
they  lay,  and  to  the  circumstance  that  by  the  time  the 
Dutch  and  English  East  India  Companies  were  fully 
established,  the  east  coast  trade  of  Portugal  had  become 
too  insignificant  to  offer  a  profitable  field  to  these  rich 
and  powerful  corporations.  Moreover,  both  the  Dutch 
and  British  merchantmen  had  by  this  time  provided 
themselves  with  more  healthy  and  more  convenient "  half- 
way houses  "  to  India — the  former  using  the  Cape,  and 
the  latter  Saint  Helena,  as  a  victualling  station  and  port 
of  call. 

But  although  the  Portuguese  are  guilty  of  introducing 
the  slave  trade,  with  all  its  train  of  attendant  evils,  into 
Africa,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  original  impulse 
which  carried  their  navigators  through  their  first  perilous 

68 


THE   MONOMOTAPA    MISSION 

voyages,  was  largely  religious.  The  discovery  of  the 
maritime  route  to  India  was  a  signal  victory  for  the  Cross 
in  the  long  struggle  between  Christendom  and  Islam. 
The  crosses  of  discovery  planted  on  successive  headlands 
of  the  Continent  of  Africa  were  no  meaningless  emblems. 
They  marked  the  extension  of  the  authority  of  the 
Vicar  of  Christ  no  less  than  the  acquisition  of  new  territory 
for  the  King  of  Portugal :  and  in  the  period  of  their 
prosperity  the  Portuguese  were  active  in  the  fulfilment  of 
their  religious  obligations  both  in  India  and  in  Africa. 

The  efforts  of  their  missionaries  to  spread  Christianity 
among  the  natives  in  East  Africa  were  fruitful  of  geo- 
graphical discovery,  and  among  the  most  interesting 
records  of  the  period  are  the  letters  and  reports  written 
by  the  Jesuit  and  Dominican  priests  to  their  eccles- 
iastical superiors  in  Portugal  and  Rome.  The  Mono- 
mo  tapa,  or  Kafir,  mission  was  founded  in  1560  by  a  party 
of  Jesuit  priests,  despatched  under  the  leadership  of 
Gonzalez  Silveira,  the  Provincial  designate  of  the  Order, 
from  Goa,  the  seat  of  the  Indian  administration.  In 
the  year  following  Silveira,  having  reached  the  chief 
kraal,  or  capital,  of  the  Monomotapa,  was  there  treach- 
erously murdered  by  order  of  this  Bantu  potentate. 
The  news  of  the  tragic  event  in  due  time  reached  Europe, 
and  ten  years  later  an  expedition  under  Francisco 
Barrett o  was  sent  out  from  Portugal  to  Mozambique, 
thence  to  proceed  by  way  of  the  Zambezi  against  the 
Monomotapa.  Its  objects  were  threefold  :  "to  spread 
the  knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  to  secure  a 
source  of  revenue  which  would  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
Indian  administration  ;  and  to  punish  the  murder  of 
Silveira."  The  Monomotapa  made  his  submission  upon 
the  arrival  of  the  Portuguese  force  at  Sena  ;  but  before  the 
negotiations  were  concluded,  Barretto  himself,  and  prac- 
tically the  whole  of  the  700  men  under  his  command, 
had  perished  of  fever.  Among  other  conditions  imposed 

69 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

on  the  Monomotapa  was  an  undertaking  to  receive  the 
missionaries  ;  and  from  this  time  onwards  the  work  of 
Christianising  the  natives  was  prosecuted  with  energy 
and  success.  The  organisation  of  the  missions  in  Mozam- 
bique as  a  whole  was,  however,  transferred  by  the  Papal 
authorities  from  the  Jesuits  to  the  Dominican  Order  ; 
and  it  is  from  a  priest  of  this  order  that  fifty  years  later 
we  get  a  report  on  "  the  state  of  Christianity  in  the  rest 
of  Africa  on  the  other  side  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope." 
At  this  date  (circa  1625)  there  were  twenty-two  places,  at 
each  of  which  there  were  some  Christian  natives,  while 
most  of  them  possessed  parochial  churches  or  Monastic 
establishments.  At  Sena,  the  head-quarters  of  the  Por- 
tuguese in  the  Zambezi  districts,  there  "  were  more  than 
200  Christian  houses  ;  a  parochial  church  with  ten  priests  ; 
the  Church  of  St.  Dominic,  with  three  or  four  friars ; 
and  the  Church  of  St.  Antony  in  charge  of  a  priest." 
Equally  interesting  is  the  account  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Monomotapa  which  is  contained  in  the  same  report,  as 
forwarded  by  Monsignor  Lorenzo,  the  Colletore  of 
Portugal,  to  the  Cardinal  Praefect  of  the  Propaganda  at 
Rome. 

The  kingdom  of  Monomotapa  is  very  large  and  full  of  people, 
nearly  all  Pagans,  and  without  knowledge  of  religion.  It  is  rich 
in  gold  mines,  ebony,  and  ivory.  And  in  the  opinion  of  many 
it  is  the  ancient  Ophir,  where  Solomon  sent  his  ships,  which 
sailed  through  the  Red  Sea  to  the  coast  of  Africa.  A  very  easy 
navigation  and  full  of  ports. 

The  extent  of  the  kingdom  is  not  known,  but  it  is  believed  to 
be  bounded  on  one  side  by  the  kingdom  of  Angola,  and  on  the 
other  by  that  of  Prester  John  .  .  .  . x 

But,  as  already  noticed,  from  the  middle  of 
.the  seventeenth  century  onwards  the  power  of  the 
Portuguese  both  in  East  Africa  and  in  India  rapidly 

1  The  above  quotations  are  taken  from  the  translations  of  the 
actual  documents  in  the  archives  of  the  Propaganda  at  Rome, 
obtained  by  Mr.  A.  Wilmot,  and  published  by  him  in  Appendices 
to  his  book  (Monomotapa,  by  the  Hon.  A.  Wilmot :  London,  1896). 

70 


HINDU   TRADERS 

declined.  The  causes  of  their  failure  in  East  Africa  are 
not  far  to  seek.  They  never  succeeded  in  finding  the  real 
gold  mines ;  that  is,  the  ancient  Sabsean  workings, 
concerning  which  they  remained  in  complete  ignorance, 
although  they  were  much  nearer  to  them  than  the  so- 
called  "  mines "  of  the  Monomotapa.  Nor  did  they 
ever  discover  the  cardinal  geographical  fact  which  would 
have  made  an  effective  occupation  of  the  hinterland 
possible — the  fact  that  inland,  beyond  the  fever-stricken 
coast  belt,  there  were  high  plateaux  and  mountain  regions 
where  valuable  produce  could  be  grown,  and  European 
colonies  could  be  planted.  As  it  was,  they  were  soon 
driven  to  content  themselves  with  the  bare  maintenance  of 
their  hold  upon  the  ports  and  islands  of  the  coastline, 
leaving  the  natives — with  the  exception  of  periodic  slave 
raids — to  manage  their  own  affairs.  The  Portuguese 
did,  however,  make  two  attempts  to  introduce  an  element 
of  permanence  and  settled  industry,  into  their  east  coast 
possessions — attempts,  which,  as  representing  the  sum  of 
their  actual  work  of  colonisation,  deserve  a  moment's 
consideration. 

The  first  was  the  grant  by  the  Governor-General  of 
Portuguese  India  of  the  exclusive  right  to  trade  between 
Diu  and  Mozambique  to  a  company  of  Banyan  (Hindu) 
merchants.  This  measure,  which  was  well  calculated 
to  promote  the  mutual  prosperity  of  the  Portuguese 
possessions  in  India  and  East  Africa,  was  taken  in  1686  ; 
and  in  addition  to  the  trading  monopoly,  the  Banyans  wer  e 
allowed  to  nominate  persons  to  act  as  judges  in  the  even  t 
of  any  member  of  the  company  being  involved  in  any  civil 
or  criminal  proceedings,  while  residing  in  East  Africa. 
The  persons  chosen  for  this  purpose  were  Jesuits  from 
the  establishment  of  the  Order  at  Goa.  The  sequel  is 
noticeable  in  view  of  the  recent  co  ntroversy  as  to  the 
status  of  the  British  Indians  in  the  Transvaal.  The 
Banyan  traders  grew  so  pr  osperous  that  they  incurred 

71 

6  -(2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  hostility  of  other  classes  in  the  community,  and  the 
Jesuit  fathers,  rightly  or  wrongly,  were  accused  of 
complicity  in  their  alleged  misdoings. 

One  Governor-General  wrote  of  them  (says  Consul  O'Neill) 
that  they  (the  Banyans)  were  selfish,  false,  and  cunning,  given 
to  lying  and  usury  ;  that  they  knew  not  how  to  keep  a  contract ; 
and  that  it  was  a  part  of  their  religious  creed  to  deceive  and  rob 
a  Christian.  And  of  the  Jesuits  a  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  writing  from  Lisbon,  stated  in  a  despatch  to  the  Governor- 
General  of  the  Colony,  that  "  His  Majesty  the  King  was  perfectly 
aware,  and  his  royal  sense  of  piety  had  received  a  severe  shock 
therefrom,  that  the  missionaries  had  degenerated  into  a  mere 
association  of  smugglers."  l 

The  Jesuits  accordingly  were  sent  back  in  1759  to  Goa, 
where  they  were  punished  by  imprisonment  and  the 
confiscation  of  their  property ;  and  twenty  years  later 
(1777)  the  Banyans  themselves  were  deprived  of  their 
trading  and  other  privileges.  In  spite,  however,  of  the 
withdrawal  of  official  support  the  Indian  traders  continued 
their  operations  in  East  Africa,  and  as  recently  as  1882 
the  British  consul  at  Mozambique  reported  that  they  were 
"  in  sole  possession  "  of  the  trade  of  the  Portuguese  coast 
line.  They  do  not  make  colonists,  he  added,  because 
their  caste  prevents  them  from  remaining  permanently 
outside  their  own  country,  nor  does  their  religion  allow 
them  to  take  their  women  abroad  with  them.  But  whatever 
encouragement  to  industry  the  native  Africans  of  the 
Portuguese  hinterland  have  received,  has  come  from  these 
Indian  traders,  who,  unlike  the  European  merchants, 
do  not  confine  themselves  to  wholesale  transactions,  but 
make  their  way  by  river  and  caravan  into  the  interior, 
where  they  collect  the  indigenous  produce  of  the  country 
in  exchange  for  articles  of  European  or  Indian  manufacture. 

1  Quoted  from  a  paper,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  for  1882,  by  Mr.  H.  E.  O'Neill,  H.B.M. 
Consul  at  Mozambique.  I  am  indebted  to  this  source  for  the 
facts  upon  which  this  account  of  these  two  colonising  efforts  of 
Portugal  is  based. 

72 


EFFORT   TO   COLONISE 

In  the  second  of  these  attempts  we  have  the  sole  direct 
effort  of  the  Portuguese,  during  the  period  here  in  question, 
to  settle  a  European  population  in  South-east  Africa. 
Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  fertile  districts 
lying  north  and  south  of  the  Zambezi  were  apportioned 
into  Crown  grants  (Prazos  da  Coroa),  which  were  bestowed 
upon  Portuguese  women,  with  succession  through  female 
offspring  for  three  generations,  on  condition  that  (1) 
they  married  a  Portuguese  of  European  birth,  and  (2) 
actually  resided  with  their  husbands  upon  the  lands 
respectively  assigned  to  them.  Subsequently,  when  a 
sufficient  number  of  European  Portuguese  were  not  forth- 
coming, women  of  mixed  European  and  Indian  or  African 
blood  were  accepted.  In  this  modified  form  the  system 
of  Crown  grants,  though  originally  well  conceived,  was 
worked  so  ineffectively  by  the  local  Portuguese  officials, 
that  it  produced  abuses  which  not  only  defeated  the  main 
purpose  of  the  measure,  but  threatened  altogether  to 
subvert  the  authority  of  Portugal  in  these  regions.  The 
heiresses,  or  their  Portuguese  husbands,  were  not  content 
with  one  grant,  but  succeeded  in  obtaining  several. 
Having  established  themselves  in  possession  of  the  great 
tracts  of  land  thus  acquired,  they  and  their  husbands, 
by  means  of  hired  soldiers  and  retinues  of  slaves,  set  up 
the  state  of  mediaeval  nobles,  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  surrounding  country,  and  defied  the  Portuguese 
authorities.  In  these  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising 
that  legislation  was  passed  in  Portugal  in  1836,  and  again 
in  1854,  to  abolish  the  system  of  Crown  grants,  and 
deprive  the  then  existing  grantees  of  their  rights  and  pri- 
vileges. Owing,  however,  to  the  weakness  of  the  Portu- 
guese administration  in  East  Africa,  the  possessors  of 
these  large  estates  were  enabled  to  defy  the  authority  of 
the  government  until  quite  recent  years. 

None  have  judged  the  comparative  failure  of  the 
Portuguese  in  Africa  more  severely  than  those 

73 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

contemporary  writers  among  them,  who  have  striven 
lately,  and  not  altogether  unsuccessfully,  to  recall  their 
nation  to  a  sense  of  its  past  greatness.  Of  the 
seventeenth  century  administration  Andrade  Corvo  says  : 

We  dragged  out  a  sad  existence,  without  progressing  in  colon- 
isation, without  developing  commerce  or  industries,  and  without 
the  famous  gold  and  silver  mines  giving  the  marvellous  results 
which  were  expected  from  them. 

And  again  : 

The  early  Portuguese  did  no  more  than  substitute  themselves 
for  the  Moors,  as  they  called  them,  in  the  parts  that  they  occupied 
on  the  Coast ;  and  their  influence  extended  to  the  interior  very 
little,  unless,  indeed,  through  some  ephemeral  alliance  of  no 
value  whatever,  or  through  missionaries,  or  without  any  practical 
or  lasting  results.  The  true  conquest  is  still  (1885)  to  be  made. l 

It  remains  to  state  very  briefly  the  few  facts  which 
serve  to  link  up  the  Portuguese  East  Africa  of  the  past 
with  the  South  Africa  of  to-day.  Shortly  after  Mozam- 
bique was  emancipated  from  the  control  of  the  Por- 
tuguese Governor-General  of  India  (1752),  the  Jesuits, 
as  already  mentioned,  were  expelled,  and  the  Dominican 
missionaries,  although  they  remained  longer  in  the  country, 
gradually  declined  in  numbers  and  importance,  until  in 
1830  they  too  finally  disappeared.  Meanwhile,  in  1763, 
the  seven  chief  towns  of  the  province  were  created 
municipalities.  In  1838  the  Governor-General  of  Mozam- 
bique received  fresh  powers  from  the  Home  Government, 
including  the  appointment  of  the  District  governors ; 
and  twenty  years  later  a  "  Junta/'  or  representative 
council  of  the  Province,  was  established,  to  which  Sena, 
Sofala,  Inhambane,  and  Lorenzo  Marques,  each  con- 
tributed one,  Tete  two,  and  Mozambique  itself  seven 
members,  thus  providing  collectively  a  total  of  thirteen 
for  the  whole  province. 

Under  the  MacMahon  award,  to  which  an  allusion  has 
been  made  above,  the  possession  of  Lorenzo  Marques, 

1  As  translated  by  Mr.  Scott  Keltic  in  The  Partition  of  Africa. 

74 


PORTUGAL   AND    ENGLAND 

with  the  fine  harbour  of  Delagoa  Bay,  was  confirmed  to 
Portugal  in  1875.  The  occupation  of  Mashonaland  by 
the  pioneer  expedition  of  the  British  South  Africa  Com- 
pany in  1890  led  to  immediate  and  serious  disputes 
between  the  British  and  Portuguese  authorities.  But 
although  for  a  time  there  was  much  diplomatic  friction 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  ancient  ally,  the  entire 
frontier  of  Portuguese  East  Africa  was  eventually 
delimited  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  parties  under  the 
terms  of  the  Anglo-Portuguese  Convention  of  June  llth, 
1891.  By  this  agreement,  while  her  just  territorial 
claims  were  generously  recognised  by  her  powerful 
neighbour,  Portugal,  on  her  part,  bound  herself  to  ob- 
serve certain  conditions  intended  to  prevent  her  from  using 
her  legal  but  ineffective  possession  of  the  coast  belt 
to  hinder  the  development  of  the  British  interior,  or 
unduly  tax  its  future  colonists.  The  most  important  of 
these  undertakings  were  :  (1)  To  recognise  the  Zambezi 
as  a  free  water-way  ;  (2)  to  construct  a  railway  from 
Beira,  the  natural  port  of  Mashonaland,  to  the  interior  ; 
or,  failing  this,  to  allow  the  construction  of  such  a  railway 
by  others  ;  and  (3)  to  limit  the  duties  leviable  upon  goods 
in  transit  from  the  coast  to  "the  British  sphere  to  a 
maximum  of  3  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Since  the  date  of  this  Agreement  the  prospects  of  Por- 
tuguese East  Africa  have  steadily  improved.  The 
profits  of  the  transit  trade  arising  from  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  Southern  Rhodesia  and,  on  a  far  greater  scale, 
the  Transvaal,  have  rescued  the  finances  of  Mozambique 
from  their  chronic  deficits,  and  created  the  modern  ports 
of  Beira  and  Delagoa  Bay.  Apart  from  this  indirect 
assistance,  British  capital  and  energy  have  largely  and 
directly  contributed,  through  the  agency  of  associa- 
tions such  as  the  Mozambique  and  Nyassa  Companies, 
to  the  development  of  the  agricultural  and  mineral 
resources  of  the  Portuguese  territory.  At  the  same  time, 

75 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

by  providing  the  Witwatersrand  mines  with  a  great  part 
of  their  African  labour,  and  the  Transvaal  with  its  nearest 
and  most  economic  port,  Mozambique  performs  an  indis- 
pensable service  to  the  Union  of  South  Africa.  Indeed 
the  material  interests  of  the  Transvaal  and  Mozambique 
have  been  so  closely  associated  in  the  recent  improvements 
of  the  railway  and  dock  accommodation  of  Lorenzo  Marques, 
that,  although  politically  separate,  the  province  of 
Mozambique  has  come  to  be  recognised,  and  treated, 
as  a  necessary  part  of  the  British  industrial  and  com- 
mercial system.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  within 
the  last  twenty  years  the  Portuguese  themselves,  stirred 
by  such  writings  as  those  of  Andrade  Corvo,  have  shown 
a  revived  interest  in  their  East  African  possessions.  It 
cannot  be  said  that  the  Portuguese  Government  has 
learnt  as  yet  to  avail  itself  fully  of  the  opportunities 
presented  by  the  rapid  expansion  of  a  great  industrial 
state  upon  the  borders  of  these  once  worthless  territories  ; 
but  there  are  signs  that,  as  the  result  of  this  closer  asso- 
ciation with  British  statesmen  and  men  of  affairs,  the 
Mozambique  authorities  at  all  events  have  acquired  a 
more  enlightened  political  outlook,  and  are  sincerely 
desirous  of  reforming  their  administrative  methods. 


76 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  DUTCH  EAST   INDIA   COMPANY 

WITH  the  appearance  of  the  English  and  Dutch  in  Eastern 
waters  the  central  current  of  South  African  history 
returns  from  the  east  coast  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
A  tragic  incident  is  said  to  explain  the  otherwise  extra- 
ordinary neglect  of  the  Portuguese  to  form  any  settle- 
ment upon  the  temperate  south  coast  of  Africa.  In 
1509-10  Francis  d' Almeida,  the  first  Governor-General  of 
Portuguese  India,  when  returning  to  Europe  after  the 
signal  defeat  of  the  Moors  which  gave  Portugal  the  mastery 
of  the  Indian  Ocean,  put  in  at  Table  Bay  with  four  ships. 
Here  he  himself  and  no  less  than  sixty-five  of  the  flower 
of  his  men-at-arms  were  killed  by  the  missiles  of  the  agile 
Hottentots  in  the  bush  at  the  foot  of  Table  Mountain. 
The  effect  of  this  unexpected  and  disproportionate  disas- 
ter was  so  great  that  in  the  future  the  Portuguese  ships 
rarely  came  to  land  between  St.  Helena  and  the  east 
coast. 

The  first  Englishman  to  "  round  "  the  Cape  was  Sir 
Francis  Drake,  who,  passing  it  in  1580  on  the  homeward 
course  of  his  famous  voyage  round  the  world,  reported 
it  to  be  "  the  most  stately  thing  and  fairest  cape  we  saw 
in  the  whole  circumference  of  the  world/'  The  pioneer 
of  the  English  East  India  Company  was  Sir  James  Lan- 
caster, who  had  served  under  Drake  in  the  defeat  of  the 
Spanish  Armada.  Sailing  for  the  East  Indies  in  1591, 
he  returned  to  England  after  many  adventures  in  1594, 
but  only  to  set  out  for  the  same  goal  a  few  months  later 
at  the  head  of  an  expedition  fitted  out  by  the  merchants  of 
London.  This  time  he  was  away  only  two  years,  and  the 
results  of  the  expedition  were  so  favourable  that  an 

77 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

association  of  merchants  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
trading  with  the  East  Indies.  The  new  company 
received  its  charter  of  incorporation  from  Queen  Elizabeth 
on  the  last  day  of  1600  (o.s.),  and  a  few  weeks  afterwards 
Lancaster  sailed  in  command  of  four  ships — the  first 
fleet  of  the  East  India  Company — for  Bantam,  in  the 
island  of  Java,  where  he  presented  a  letter  from  the  Queen 
to  the  King  of  Bantam,  and  established  the  first  trading 
agencies  of  the  company. 

The  English  ships  which  from  this  time  onwards  to  the 
opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  regularly  passed  the  Cape  on 
their  outward  and  homeward  voyages  to  and  from  India, 
used  Table  Bay  as  an  occasional  port  of  call ;  and  it  is 
noticeable  that  their  crews  seem  to  have  encountered  no 
hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Hottentots  and  Bushmen. 
Indeed,  the  Dutch  complained,  when  fifty  years  later 
they  founded  their  settlement  here,  that  they  had  to  use 
the  English  language,  if  they  wished  to  make  themselves 
understood  by  the  natives ;  and  that  these  latter  were 
much  more  ready  to  barter  their  sheep  and  produce  with 
the  English  than  with  them.  In  these  circumstances  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  desirability  of  acquiring  perma- 
nently so  useful  a  place  should  have  occurred  to  the 
English  sailors ;  and  in  1620  two  of  them,  Captains 
Andrew  Shillinge  and  Humphrey  Fitz-Herbert,  being  in 
Table  Bay  with  four  East  Indiamen,  hoisted  the  English 
flag  on  Signal  Hill,  and  proclaimed  English  sovereignty 
over  the  Cape  Peninsula  and  the  adjacent  mainland  in  the 
name  of  King  James  I.  Their  action,  however,  was 
disallowed  both  by  the  Company  and  King  James ; 
and  so  it  fell  to  the  Dutch  to  have  the  honour  of  planting 
a  European  population  at  the  foot  of  Table  Mountain. 

The  first  Dutch  fleet  to  reach  the  East  Indies  was  that 
which  sailed  for  Bantam  in  1595  under  Admiral  Houtman. 
The  Dutch  East  India  Company,  which  was  a  union  of 
smaller  and  competing  associations  of  merchants,  was 

78 


THE  CAPE  SETTLEMENT 

incorporated  two  years  later  than  the  English  Company. 
The  General  Directory,  called  the  Chamber  of  XVII, 
met  at  various  places  in  Holland,  and  the  chief  seat  of  its 
operations  in  the  East  was  Jakatra  in  the  island  of  Java, 
to  which  in  1621  the  name  "  Batavia  "  was  given.  When 
the  company  was  fully  organised,  its  oversea  adminis- 
tration consisted  of  a  Governor-General  and  Council  of 
India  at  Batavia,  and  a  number  of  settlements  or  stations 
which  were  subject  to  the  Indian  Government,  but 
administered  directly  by  admirals,  governors  or  comman- 
ders, assisted  in  each  case  by  a  local  "  Council  of  Policy." 
The  immediate  origin  of  the  Company's  station  at  the 
Cape  is  to  be  found  in  an  incident  scarcely  less  tragic 
than  the  death  of  D'Almeida.  In  1848  the  Haarlem, 
one  of  its  finest  ships,  was  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  Table 
Bay,  where  the  crew  remained  for  five  months  before  they 
were  taken  off  by  the  homeward  bound  fleet.  On  their 
return  to  Holland  two  of  the  shipwrecked  crew  presented 
a  "  remonstrance  "  to  the  Chamber  of  XVII,  setting 
out  the  advantages  which  the  place  presented  for  the 
establishment  of  a  permanent  post. 

After  considerable  hesitation  and  delay  the  Directory 
were  persuaded  to  carry  out  the  proposal.  The  execution 
of  their  plans  was  entrusted  to  Jan  Antony  Van  Riebeck, 
a  surgeon  in  the  company's  service.  His  instructions  were, 
to  construct  a  wooden  building  for  the  accommodation 
of  invalided  sailors  and  soldiers  ;  to  build  a  fort  capable 
of  holding  a  garrison  of  seventy  or  eighty  men  ;  to  make 
a  garden  where  vegetables  could  be  grown — a  matter  of 
great  importance  in  days  when  scurvy  was  a  terrible 
scourge — to  treat  the  natives  "  kindly  "  ;  and  to  keep  a 
diary  for  the  information  of  the  Directory  in  Holland. 
The  expedition,  consisting  solely  of  persons  in  the  civil 
or  military  employment  of  the  Company,  who  with  a 
few  female  relatives  numbered  less  than  200  in  all, 
set  sail  in  three  ships  from  the  Texel  on  December  24th, 

79 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

1651.  By  the  morning  of  Sunday,  April  7th,  1652, 
the  whole  company,  with  the  building  materials  and  four 
culverins  for  the  fort,  had  arrived  safely  in  Table  Bay. 

Five  years  later  the  Company  took  a  step  which  was 
destined  to  convert  the  naval  station  at  the  Cape  into  a 
European  colony.  Nine  soldiers  and  sailors  were  dis- 
charged and  placed  upon  small  farms  of  twenty-six 
acres  on  the  banks  of  the  Liesbeck  at  Rondebosch.  The 
terms  upon  which  these  original  "  free  burghers  "  took 
their  holdings  are  characteristic  of  the  principles  and 
methods  pursued  by  the  Dutch  East  India  Company 
during  the  entire  period  of  its  rule  in  South  Africa  (1652- 
1795).  In  addition  to  the  land,  the  settlers  were  provided 
with  tools,  seeds,  and  stores,  and  exempted  from  taxation 
for  a  period  of  years.  In  lieu  of  rent  and  interest  upon  the 
capital  thus  advanced,  they  undertook  to  bring  all  their 
produce  to  the  Company's  warehouses,  there  to  be  pur- 
chased by  the  Company  at  prices  fixed  from  time  to  time 
by  its  officers.  If  any  produce  remained  over  and  above 
the  amount  required  by  the  Company,  the  settlers  were 
free  to  dispose  of  it  to  any  foreign  ships  which  might  come 
to  anchor  in  Table  Bay ;  provided,  however,  that  they 
did  not  go  on  board  these  ships  until  three  days  after  their 
arrival,  by  which  time  the  Company's  agents  would  have 
themselves  sold  to  the  foreign  merchantmen  whatever 
produce  they  had  for  sale.  In  the  case  of  the  cattle  trade 
the  restrictions  were  even  more  stringent.  The  settlers 
were  only  allowed  to  purchase  cattle  from  the  Hottentots 
at  the  prices  fixed  by  the  Company,  and  were  forbidden 
to  sell  the  cattle,  when  ready  for  market,  to  any  purchaser 
except  the  Company. 

In  Java,  the  most  valuable  of  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company's  possessions,  this  system,  afterwards  known  as 
the  "  culture  "  system,  was  pursued  on  a  large  scale  and 
with  excellent  financial  results.  Here  a  great  revenue 
was  derived  from  the  two  monopolies  exercised  by  the 

80 


THE  COMPANY'S  SYSTEM 

Company,  after  they  had  acquired  a  virtual  possession 
of  the  soil  of  the  island  from  the  native  princes.  These 
monopolies  were  (1)  that  of  producing  all  the  most  val- 
uable crops,  (2)  that  of  trading  in  all  productions  what- 
soever. It  was  upon  this  system  that  the  Cape  Colony 
was  founded.  The  Government  of  the  colony  were 
agents  of  the  Company,  the  colony  was  their  estate,  and 
the  colonists  were  persons  employed  to  cultivate  the  soil, 
on  perfectly  well  understood  terms  of  remuneration, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  shareholders  in  Holland.  Such  a 
system  was  suitable  enough  for  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  a  tropical  island  like  Java,  with  an  abundant 
and  semi-servile  population,  but  it  was  too  rigidly  com- 
mercial to  satisfy  the  elementary  conditions  necessary 
for  the  social  and  political  well-being  of  a  European  com- 
munity, however  small.  Before,  however,  we  consider 
the  effects  which  this  system  produced,  it  is  necessary  to 
trace  in  outline  the  growth  of  the  European  population 
to  which  it  thus  came  to  be  applied. 

The  Liesbeck  settlement  had  another  result  which  must 
be  noticed.  The  occupation  of  land  outside  the  actual 
station  on  Table  Bay  at  once  led  to  a  conflict  between 
the  Dutch  and  the  Hottentots.  The  account  of  the  affair 
which  Van  Riebeck  wrote,  under  date  July  29th,  1659, 
to  the  Governor-General  and  Council,  Batavia,  contains 
an  interesting  statement  of  the  Hottentots'  point  of  view. 
After  remarking  that  the  "  Hottentots  had  been  at  work 
again,"  and  that  the  Fiscal  Gabbema  had  caught  two  of 
them,  of  whom  he  killed  one  and  took  the  other  prisoner, 
he  continues  : 

The  said  prisoner,  who  was  one  of  the  Caepmans,  and  spoke 
tolerable  Dutch,  being  asked  why  they  did  us  this  injury,  declared 
.  .  .  because  they  saw  that  we  were  breaking  up  the  best  land 
and  grass,  where  their  cattle  were  accustomed  to  graze,  trying  to 
establish  ourselves  everywhere  with  houses  and  farms,  as  if  we 
were  never  more  to  remove,  but  designed  to  take  for  our  per- 
manent occupation  more  and  more  of  their  Cape  country  which 

81 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

had  belonged  to  them  from  time  immemorial.  Aye,  so  that  their 
cattle  could  not  get  at  the  water  without  passing  over  the  corn 
land,  which  we  would  not  allow  them  to  do  ;  that  they,  con- 
sequently, resolved  (as  it  was  their  land)  to  dishearten  us  by 
taking  away  the  cattle  (with  which  they  could  see  that  we  broke 
up  and  destroyed  the  best  land)  ;  and  if  that  would  not  produce 
the  effect — by  burning  our  houses  and  corn  until  we  were  all 
forced  to  go  away  ;  that  Doman  had  also  put  it  into  their  heads 
that  after  all  the  houses  in  the  country  were  destroyed,  the  fort 
could  be  easily  surprised — as  the  earth  walls  were  built  with  a 
slope — and  then  the  Dutch  might  be  forced  quite  to  abandon 
the  country.  .  .  .* 

Peace  was  made  between  Van  Riebeck  and  the  "  Captain 
and  Chief  of  the  Caepmans  "  on  April  6th,  1660  ;  and  a 
complete  statement  of  the  negotiations,  as  duly  recorded 
in  the  diary,  was  then  forwarded  for  the  information  of  the 
Directors  of  the  Company  in  Holland.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  it  was  no  part  of  the  Company's  policy 
to  drive  away  the  Hottentots ;  since  they  were  useful 
in  raising  cattle  and  providing  the  supplies  required 
both  for  the  use  of  its  own  ships,  and  for  sale  to  the 
foreigners  who  put  in  at  Table  Bay.  The  directors, 
therefore,  replied  that  the  discontent  of  the  Hottentots 
was  "  neither  surprising  nor  groundless,"  and  recom- 
mended that  in  the  future  the  land  should  be  purchased 
from  them,  or  that  some  other  means  of  satisfying  them 
should  be  employed.  In  giving  this  advice  to  Van  Rie- 
beck they  were  again  applying  to  the  Cape  Settlement 
a  course  of  action  which  they  were  pursuing  in  Java 
with  excellent  results.  In  this  latter  case  the  territorial 
rights  of  the  native  princes  were  gradually  and  suc- 
cessively bought  up,  until  in  the  end  the  Company  became 
possessed  of  the  entire  island — and  this  not  by  conquest 
but  by  good  bargaining. 

Twelve  years  later,  when  as  we  shall  see  the  directors 
began  to  take  a  greater  interest  in  the  Cape  Settlement, 
this  policy  was  put  into  effect  under  the  direction  of  a  high 

1  The  Record  :  A  Collection  of  Original  Documents  made  by 
Donald  Moodie,  Lieut.  R.N.  Published  at  Capetown  in  1838. 

82 


THE  HOTTENTOT  QUESTION 

Indian  official,  Aernout  Van  Overbeke.  By  deeds  of 
cession,  dated  respectively  April  19th,  and  May  5th, 
1672,  and  "  done  in  the  Fortress,  the  Good  Hope,"  the 
Hottentot  chiefs,  styled  "  princes,"  but  using  a  cross  to 
attest  their  names,  granted  "  the  whole  district  of  the 
Cabo  de  Boa  Esperance,"  and  (on  the  mainland)  the 
"  whole  district  of  the  land  caUed '  Hottentoos  Holland  '  " 
to  the  Dutch  East  India  Company.  The  merchandise — 
tobacco,  beads,  copper,  brandy,  ironmongery,  etc. — 
given  to  the  Hottentots  in  consideration  of  these  grants, 
was  trivial  in  value  (f.33,  17,  or  £2  16d.  Od.,  and  f.81,  16, 
or  not  quite  £7,  as  reported  to  the  directors),  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  chiefs  expressly  retained  the  right  of 
"  coming  with  their  kraals  and  herds  of  cattle,  freely  and 
without  molestation  "  to  all  land  outside  the  farms  and 
pastures  taken  up  by  the  Dutch  settlers.1  Probably 
the  Hottentots  were  very  little,  if  at  all,  worse  off  in  the 
matter  of  pasturage  ;  while  the  presence  of  a  European 
community,  by  providing  them  with  a  market  in  which 
their  cattle  and  sheep  could  be  exchanged  for  European 
wares,  brought  within  their  reach  utilities  and  luxuries 
hitherto  unknown.  No  subsequent  deeds  of  cession  were 
obtained,  but  the  Dutch  appear  to  have  had  no  further 
trouble  with  the  yellow-skinned  natives.  In  point  of 
fact,  when  they  gradually  pushed  their  settlements 
further  inland,  they  found  the  country  to  be  practically 
uninhabited  and  unoccupied  :  for  the  wandering  tribes 
of  Hottentots  and  Bushmen,  by  whom  alone  it  was 
peopled,  could  show  no  evidence  of  settled  occupation 
sufficient  to  support  a  claim  to  territorial  rights. 

Van  Overbeke's  successful  negotiations  with  the  Hotten- 
tot chiefs  formed  part  of  a  general  effort  made  by  the 
directors  at  this  time  to  secure  the  growth  of  the  European 
population  at  the  Cape.  During  the  first  twenty  years 
the  actual  work  of  colonisation  had  progressed  very 

1  These  details  are  taken  from  The  Record. 

83 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

slowly.  Van  Riebeck,  after  ten  years'  command,  had 
been  promoted  to  the  Governorship  of  Malacca.  The 
founder  of  the  Cape  Colony  is  revealed  to  us  not  only  as 
a  resourceful  and  courageous  leader  but  as  a  man  of  parts. 
His  diary,  which  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  daily  life 
of  the  little  community  entrusted  to  his  charge,  is  a  racy 
document,  flavoured  with  the  unconscious  profanity  of  the 
period  and  lightened  by  a  grim  humour.  He  himself 
subsequently  became  Secretary  to  the  Indian  adminis- 
tration, and  his  son,  born  at  the  Cape,  rose  to  the  position 
of  Governor-General  of  the  Dutch  Indies.  Under  Van 
Riebeck's  immediate  successors  the  Cape  Station  continued 
to  increase  slowly  in  numbers  and  importance,  and  in  par- 
ticular the  original  fort  was  replaced  by  the  much  stronger 
stone  building,  of  which  a  part  remains  to  this  day 
and  is  known  as  "  the  Castle  "  of  Capetown.  But  the 
Company  had  experienced  great  difficulty  in  finding 
persons  willing  to  leave  Holland  to  settle  in  a  place  so 
distant  and  isolated  as  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  in 
the  year  1779,  which  marks  the  commencement  of  the  period 
of  active  colonisation,  the  population  of  the  settlement 
was  returned  in  the  census  of  that  date  as  consisting  of 
87  freemen  with  55  women  and  117  children  ;  30  men  in 
the  Company's  employment ;  and  133  male,  and  38  female 
slaves,  with  23  slave  children. 

This  was  the  position  when  Simon  van  der  Stell  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Cape  station,  with 
instructions  from  the  directors  to  carry  out  a  policy  of 
active  development ;  and  it  was  in  the  thirty  years 
(1679-1707)  covered  by  his  administration  and  that  of 
his  son  Adrian,  that  the  main  lines  of  the  future  progress 
of  the  colony  were  laid  down.  The  directors  had  solved 
the  emigration  question,  in  part  at  least,  by  deciding  to 
send  out  young  women  from  the  public  orphanages  in 
Holland,  to  provide  the  existing  unmarried  settlers  with 
wives.  Of  these  welcome  emigrants  one  or  two  arrived 

84 


HUGUENOT  IMMIGRATION 

in  1685,  and  from  this  date  parties  of  six  or  eight  con- 
tinued to  come  out  from  time  to  time  in  the  Company's 
ships,  as  occasion  presented  itself.  The  Hottentot 
question  had  been  settled,  as  we  have  seen  by  the  action 
of  Van  Overbeke  ;  and  the  good  effect  of  this  arrange- 
ment was  soon  made  apparent  in  the  increasing  numbers 
and  prosperity  of  the  "  freemen."  In  1680  a  settlement 
to  which  the  name  Stellenbosch  was  given  in  honour 
of  the  new  Governor,  was  founded  on  the  mainland 
thirty  miles  away  from  the  Cape  ;  and  a  little  later 
the  first  Landdrost,  or  District  Magistrate,  was 
appointed  to  hold  office  there. 

The  year  1685  was  marked  by  an  event  destined  to 
bring  an  even  more  important  element  than  the  orphan 
girls  into  the  parent  stock  from  which  the  South  African 
Dutch  are  descended — the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  The  directors  of  the  Company  were  now  making 
a  strenuous  endeavour  to  secure  fresh  emigrants  for  the 
Cape.  They  offered  an  asylum  to  some  600  or  700  of  the 
Valdesi,  who  at  the  time  had  been  driven  from  their 
Alpine  homes  by  Victor  Amadeus  II  of  Savoy  ;  but  the 
arrangement  was  not  carried  out  in  view  of  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  "  Glorious  Return  "  achieved  under  the  heroic 
Janavello  in  1689. 1  But  a  similar  offer  to  the  Huguenot 
refugees,  many  of  whom  fled  to  protestant  Holland,  was 
accepted  gratefully  ;  and  between  the  years  1688  and 
1690  at  least  150,  and  probably  rather  more,  persons  of 
French  blood  were  added  to  the  permanent  European 
population  of  the  settlement.  The  Huguenot  emigrants 
were  drawn  from  classes  somewhat  higher  in  the  social 
scale  than  those  which  had  provided  the  earlier  settlers. 

1  The  Valdesi  are  a  community  of  Christian  refugees,  who 
escaped  from  the  plains  of  Lombardy  to  the  Piedmontese  Alps 
at  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  the  Goths.  In  spite  of 
repeated  and  severe  persecutions,  they  maintained  the  tenets  and 
organisation  of  the  Primitive  Church  through  the  centuries,  and 
remain  a  separate  ecclesiastical  community  to  this  day. 

85 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Besides  the  artisans,  farmers,  and  vine-growers  who 
formed  the  bulk  of  the  various  parties,  there  were  a 
sprinkling  of  men  who  had  once  held  good  positions, 
and  even  a  few  members  of  such  noble  houses  as  du 
Plessis,  de  Mornay,  de  Villiers,  and  du  Pr6.  On  their 
arrival  they  were  settled  on  the  mainland,  some  at  Stellen- 
bosch,  but  the  majority  at  Drakenstein  and  French 
Hoek.  Here  they  proved  themselves  to  be  excellent 
farmers  ;  and  in  particular  they  brought  a  knowledge 
of  viticulture,  and  of  the  methods  of  producing  wine  and 
brandy,  which  was  of  great  service  to  the  colony. 

As  the  Directors  made  no  special  effort  to  secure  emi- 
grants after  the  year  1688,  we  are  now  in  a  position  to 
ascertain  the  elements  out  of  which  the  Dutch  Afrikander 
stock  was  formed.  First,  there  were  the  soldiers,  sailors, 
and  other  discharged  servants  of  the  company ;  second, 
the  mainly  Dutch  families,  or  individuals,  emigrated 
direct  from  Holland,  of  whom  the  majority  were  sent 
out  concurrently  with  the  French  refugees  ;  third,  the 
Dutch  orphan  girls,  from  whom  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  settlers  obtained  their  wives  ;  and  fourth,  this  last 
important  and  homogeneous  element,  the  Huguenots. 
The  annual  census  for  the  year  ended  December  31st, 
1687,  i.e.,  that  immediately  preceding  the  arrival  of  the 
French,  shows  that  the  European  population  of  the 
settlement,  exclusive  of  the  Company's  establishment, 
then  consisted  of  573  persons,  of  whom  254  were  men, 
88  women,  and  231  children.  Assuming  therefore  that  an 
equal  number  of  Dutch  were  sent  out  at  the  same  time 
as  the  French,  these  latter,  numbering  150  or  more, 
formed  approximately  one-sixth  of  the  parent-stock. 

This  is  confirmed  by  the  census  for  1691,  when,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Theal,  there  were  in  round  numbers,  1,000 
permanent  settlers  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes.  Of  this 
total  he  estimates  that  two-thirds  were  Dutch,  one-sixth 
French,  a  small  fraction  Swedish,  Danish  or  Belgian, 

86 


THE  BOER  STOCK 

and  one-seventh  German,  i.e.,  Low  German  and  prac- 
tically identical  with  the  Dutch  in  racial  characteristics. 
The  non-European  population  consisted  of  50  free 
Asiatics  and  Central  Africans,  with  their  wives  and 
60  or  70  children  ;  and  386  slaves  (being  the  property  of 
the  settlers)  of  whom  285  were  men,  57  women,  and  44 
children.  Further  returns  show  that  rapid  progress  was 
being  made  now  in  agriculture,  stock-raising,  and  wine- 
growing.x  In  short,  originally  by  accident  but  sub- 
sequently by  well-directed  efforts  and  of  set  purpose,  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  had  accomplished  its  highest 
achievement — the  planting  of  a  self-sufficing  European 
community,  containing  the  germs  of  future  racial  and 
industrial  growth,  on  the  remote  but  temperate  extremity 
of  the  great  Continent  of  Africa. 

The  fact  revealed  by  this  analysis,  that  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  original  Afrikander  parents  were  men  and 
women,  who,  by  virtue  of  the  circumstances  of  their 
emigration,  were  absolutely  cut  loose  from  the  ties  that 
bind  ordinary  colonists  to  their  mother  countries,  leads 
"  Olive  Schreiner  "  to  some  significant  reflections  upon 
the  Boer  character  as  it  developed  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  2 

The  South  African  Boer  differs  from  every  other  emigrant 
branch  of  a  European  people  whom  we  can  recall,  either  in 
classical  or  modern  times,  in  this  :  That,  having  settled  in  a  new 
land,  and  not  having  mixed  with  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  nor 
accepted  their  language,  he  has  yet  severed  every  intellectual 
and  emotional  tie  between  himself  and  the  parent  lands  from 
which  he  sprang.  .  .  .  He  is  as  much  severed  from  the  lands  of 
his  ancestors  and  from  Europe,  as  though  3,000,  instead  of  200, 
years  had  elapsed  since  he  left  it. 

Of  the  orphan  girls  she  writes  : 

The  ships  that  bore  these  women  to  South  Africa  carried  them 

1  History  and  Ethnography  of  South  Africa  before  1795,  by 
George  McCall  Theal,  Litt.D.,  vol.  ii  (1909),  pp.  370-1. 

*  Mrs.  Cronwright  Schreiner,  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for 
April,  1896. 

87 

7— (2139) 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

towards  the  first  "  Good  Hope  "  that  ever  dawned  on  their  lives  ; 
and  the  day  in  which  they  landed  at  Table  Bay  and  first  trod  on 
African  soil,  was  also  the  first  in  which  they  became  women, 
desired  and  sought  after,  and  not  mere  numbers  in  a  printed 
list.  In  the  arms  of  the  rough  soldiers  and  sailors  who  welcomed 
them,  they  found  the  first  home  they  had  known  !  ...  to  such 
women  it  was  almost  inevitable  that,  from  the  moment  they 
landed,  South  Africa  should  be  "  home,"  and  Europe  be  blotted 
out.  .  .  . 

And  persecution  for  religion  produced  the  same 
obliteration  of  the  home  tie  in  the  case  of  the  Huguenot. 

As  he  entered  Table  Bay,  and  for  the  first  time  the  superb 
front  of  Table  Mountain  broke  upon  him,  he  saw  in  it  his  first 
token  from  his  covenant-keeping  God — "  The  land  that  I  shall 
give  thee  !  "  And  the  beautiful  valleys  of  Stellenbosch,  French- 
Hoek,  and  the  Paarl,  in  which  he  settled,  were  to  him  no  mere 
terrestrial  territories  on  which  to  plant  and  sow  :  they  were  the 
direct  gifts  of  his  God  ;  the  answers  to  prayer.  .  .  .  The  vines 
and  fig-trees  which  he  planted,  and  under  which  he  sat,  were  not 
merely  the  result  of  his  labour  ;  they  were  the  trees  which  afore- 
time he  had  seen  in  visions  while  he  wandered  a  homeless  stranger 
in  Europe.  ...  To  this  man,  France  was  dead  from  the  moment 
he  set  foot  on  South  African  soil,  and  South  Africa  became  his. 

The  importance  of  gaining  a  full  insight  into  this 
aspect  of  the  character  of  the  Dutch  Afrikander,  must  be 
my  excuse  for  a  third  quotation  from  the  same  very 
interesting  article. 

He  was  produced — as  are  all  suddenly  developed,  marked,  and 
permanent  varieties  in  the  human  or  animal  world — by  the  close 
interbreeding  of  a  very  small  number  of  progenitors.  The  handful 
of  soldiers  and  sailors  who  first  landed,  a  few  agriculturists  and 
their  families,  the  band  of  orphaned  girls,  and  a  small  body  of 
French  exiles  .  .  .  constitute  the  whole  parent  stock  of  the  Boer 
people.  From  this  small  stock,  by  a  process  of  breeding  in  and 
in,  they  have  developed,  there  having  been  practically  no  addi- 
tions made  to  the  breed  for  the  last  200  years,  the  comparatively 
large  numbers  to  which  they  have  attained  having  entirely  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  of  their  very  early  marriages  and 
prolific  rate  of  increase. 

The  circumstances  which  determine  the  origin  of  the 
Boers,  or  South  African  Dutch,  being  now  before  the 
reader,  a  few  salient  facts  will  suffice  to  tell  him  what  is 

88 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   "  TAAL " 

essential  in  the  history  of  the  century  intervening  between 
the  period  of  the  Van  der  Stells  and  the  temporary 
occupation  of  the  Cape  Colony  by  the  English  in  1795. 

The  Huguenot  emigrants,  in  accepting  the  offer  of 
an  asylum  at  the  Cape,  had  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  which  placed  them- 
selves and  their  future  lives  unreservedly  under  its 
control.  It  ran  : 

Je  promets  et  jure.  .  .  . 

Et  que  j'observeray  et  executeray  fidellement,  et  de  point  en 
point,  toutes  les  lois  et  ordonnances,  faites  ou  a  faire  tant  par 
Messieurs  les  Directeurs,  par  le  Gouverneur-General  et  par  les 
Conseillers,  que  par  le  Gouverneur  ou  Commandant  du  lieu  de  la 
residence,  et  de  me  gouverner  et  comporter  en  toutes  choses 
comme  un  bon  et  fidelle  sujet,  Ainsi  Dieu  m'  aide. l 

In  the  face  of  this  promise  of  unlimited  obedience 
they  were  unable  to  complain  when  the  harsh  but  salu- 
tary decision  of  the  directors  to  amalgamate  them 
absolutely  with  the  Dutch  majority  was  put  into  effect. 
On  their  arrival  Van  der  Stell  was  ordered  to  mingle  them 
with  the  Dutch  settlers,  and  to  put  the  French  children 
to  learn  Dutch  ;  and  all  efforts  to  preserve  their  national 
identity  and  language  were  vigorously  repressed  as  "  French 
impertinences."  In  1709  the  use  of  the  French  language 
in  official  communications  was  declared  illegal ;  in  1724 
the  Bible  was  read  in  French  in  their  churches  for  the  last 
time  ;  and  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  they 
had  lost  all  knowledge  of  their  mother  tongue,  and  in 
this  and  other  respects  the  process  of  racial  amalgamation 
had  been  completed. 

The  only  point  in  which  the  original  Dutch  community 
may  have  suffered  is  that  of  language.  According  to 
"  Olive  Schreiner "  so  vigorous  and  abrupt  were  the 
methods  by  which  the  French  language  was  suppressed, 
that  the  new  language  was  imperfectly  learnt  by  the 
Huguenot  refugees  ;  and  this  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 

*  The  Record, 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Dutch  of  Holland  was  communicated  by  them  to  the 
whole  body  of  settlers.  The  result  was  the  evolution 
of  a  patois  in  the"  Taal/'  the  dipt  baby  tongue  which 
has  come  to  be  the  national  language  of  the  Boer.  But 
whether  this  be  its  origin  or  not, 1  there  is  no  question  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  "  Taal,"  or  the  effect  which  it  has 
exercised  upon  the  Dutch  Afrikander  mind. 

"  The  verb  '  to  be/  instead  of  being  conjugated  as 
in  the  Dutch  of  Holland  and  in  analogy  with  all  civilised 
European  languages,"  says  "  Olive  Schreiner,"  "  runs 
thus  :  Ik  is,  Je  is,  Hij  is,  Ons  is,  Yulle  is,  Hulle  is, — 
which  would  answer  in  English  to — '  I  is/  *  thou  is/ 
'  he  is/  '  us  is/  '  you  is/  '  they  is/  And  not  only 
so,  but  of  the  commonest  pronouns  many  are  corrupted 
out  of  all  resemblance  to  their  originals.  Of  nouns  and 
other  words  of  Dutch  extraction,  most  are  so  clipped 
as  to  be  scarcely  recognisable.  A  few  words  are  from 
Malay 2  and  other  native  sources  ;  but  so  sparse  is  the 
vocabulary  and  so  broken  are  its  forms,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible in  the  Taal  to  express  a  subtle  emotion,  or  abstract 
conception,  or  a  wide  generalisation  ;  and  a  man  seeking 
to  render  a  scientific,  philosophic,  or  poetical  work  in  the 
Taal,  would  find  his  task  impossible."  3 

By  thus  substituting  for  the  mother  tongues  of  Holland 
and  France  a  patois  limited  to  a  few  hundred  words,  the 
European  population  of  the  Cape  cut  themselves  off  from 
intellectual  fellowship  with  the  civilised  world.  When, 

1  Two  other  origins,  or  contributing  influences,  are  mentioned 
by  Mrs.  Cronwright  Schreiner  :  (1)  The  original  soldiers  and 
sailors  "  being  largely  Frisian  and  wholly  uneducated,  never 
spoke  Dutch  at  all,  but  a  dialect."  (2)  It  was  a  sort  of  "  pigeon  " 
Dutch,  i.e.,  it  arose  out  of  "  intercourse  between  the  Dutchman 
and  his  slaves,  and  the  aboriginal  races  of  the  country  " 
(Fortnightly  Review  :  Ibid). 

a  The  Malays  were  imported  by  the  Dutch  East  India  Co. 
to  provide  labour  for  the  settlers.  Their  descendants  form  the 
Malay  community  of  to-day  in  the  Cape  Peninsula. 

*  Ibid. 

90 


GROWTH  OF  THE  SETTLEMENT 

therefore,  England  became  responsible  at  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century  for  the  government  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  she  found  what  was  in  effect  a  seventeenth  century 
community  ;  a  people,  that  is,  with  the  intellectual  ideas 
and  moral  standards  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  And  that 
section  of  the  Dutch  population  which  left  the  Cape 
Colony  in  1835  to  find  new  homes  beyond  the  Orange 
River — the  Boers  of  the  nineteenth  century — protracted 
the  severance  for  almost  another  century.  And  so  in 
that  common  life  of  the  European  peoples,  created  by 
the  interchange  of  thought  through  literature,  "  the 
Boer,"  says  "  Olive  Schreiner  "  in  1896,  "  has  had,  and 
could  have,  no  part.  Behind  him,  like  a  bar,  200  years 
ago  the  Taal  rose,  higher  and  higher,  and  landlocked 
him  in  his  own  tiny  lagoon."  x 

While  the  Huguenots  were  being  absorbed  by  the 
Dutch,  and  the  Taal  was  being  evolved,  the  settlers  as  a 
whole  were  gradually  spreading  inland.  They  passed 
the  first  of  the  barrier  ranges,  which  separate  the  coast 
lands  from  the  interior  plateaux,  in  1700  at  Tulbagh  kloof. 
From  this  point  they  worked  their  way  down  the  valley 
of  the  Breede  River  to  the  south  coast,  and  in  1745  there 
were  enough  homesteads  in  this  district  to  warrant  the 
establishment  of  a  magistracy  at  Swellendam.  In  the 
same  year  the  colony  was  declared  to  extend  eastward 
as  far  as  the  Gamtoos  river,  that  is  to  say,  almost  to  the 
site  of  the  present  town  of  Port  Elizabeth.  Twenty-five 
years  later  (1778)  the  Governor,  Van  Plettenberg,  in  the 
course  of  a  tour  of  the  colony  met  the  Kosa  chiefs  in 
conference  at  a  farm  on  the  site  of  Somerset  East.  The 
Europeans,  spreading  east,  had  at  length  come  into 
contact  with  the  stream  of  the  military  Bantu,  which, 
having  flowed  southwards  between  the  great  eastern 
ranges  and  the  Indian  Ocean,  had  now  set  towards  the 

1  Ibid, 

91 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Cape,  following  the  westward  trend  of  the  coast.  It  was 
here  agreed  that  the  course  of  the  Fish  River  should  be 
the  dividing  line  between  the  two  races  ;  but  the  next 
year  the  Kafirs,  who  in  the  manner  of  savages  had 
assumed  that  the  readiness  of  Van  Plettenberg  to  treat 
with  them  was  a  sign  of  fear,  crossed  the  river,  murdered 
the  Hottentots,  and  pillaged  the  isolated  homesteads  of 
the  Europeans.  They  were,  however,  quickly  driven 
back  by  the  Dutch ;  the  Fish  River  was  then  pro- 
claimed formally  to  be  the  eastern  limit  of  the 
colony,  and  a  few  years  later  (1786)  a  magistracy 
was  established  among  these  border  settlers  at  Graaf 
Reinet. 

In  the  meantime,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  middle  of  the 
century  onwards,  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  had 
been  declining  in  wealth  and  efficiency.  An  attempt 
made  in  1791  by  the  stadtholder,  afterwards  William  I 
of  Holland,  to  avert  its  downfall  by  the  appointment  of 
commissioners  to  investigate  abuses  and  suggest  reforms, 
proved  unsuccessful ;  and  before  the  second,  and  (as 
it  proved)  permanent  occupation  of  the  Cape  by  Great 
Britain  in  1806,  the  company  had  been  abolished,  and  the 
administration  of  its  possessions  had  been  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  colonial  department  of  the  Government  of 
Holland.  The  commissioners,  who  reached  Table  Bay 
in  1793,  were  apparently  too  anxious  to  proceed  to 
Batavia  to  give  any  great  attention  to  the  Cape  Colony. 
"  The  most  important  of  their  proceedings/'  says  a 
contemporary  writer, l  "  consisted  in  their  proclamation 
amid  firing  of  cannon  and  tolling  of  bells,  that  they 
represented  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  rest  any  office 
clerk  might  have  done/'  They,  accordingly,  deputed 
their  powers  of  inquiry  and  reform  to  Commissary 
Sluysken,  an  invalided  official  of  the  Indian  Government, 

1  Christian  L.  Nea tilling  :  As  translated  by  Judge  Watermeyer 
in  his  Three  Lectures  on  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Capetown,  1857. 

92 


CONDITION  OF  COLONISTS 

who  was  on  his  way  home  to  Holland,  and  themselves 
sailed  for  the  more  valuable  possessions  of  the  company 
in  the  East. 

The  condition  of  the  European  population  of  the  Cape 
Colony  at  the  time  when  the  rule  of  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company  terminated  is,  however,  sufficiently 
revealed  by  official  documents  and  the  published  accounts 
of  travellers.  Among  the  former  the  most  illuminating 
is  the  "  Memorial "  presented  by  the  Free  Burghers 
to  the  Company  in  1779.  The  long  series  of  grievances 
contains  a  request  that  the  Fiscal,  the  chief  law-officer  of 
the  local  government,  may  be  restrained  from  arbitrarily 
committing  persons  to  prison,  and  from  compounding 
crimes  by  private  fines.  Although  the  eighteenth  century 
was  drawing  to  its  close  it  would  appear  that  no  printing 
press  had  been  set  up  in  the  colony,  since  the  Burghers 
pray  that  "  authentic  copies  of  the  particular  placaats 
and  ordinances  "  in  force  at  the  Cape  may  be  supplied 
from  Holland,  or  that  a  printing  press  and  printer  should 
be  sent  out.  The  eighteenth  article  of  the  Memorial 
runs  : 

We  further  humbly  solicit  that  your  Honours  will  be  graciously 
pleased  to  allow  to  the  Cape  Colonists  that  two  ships  may  be 
laden  annually  for  the  account  of  the  Cape  Citizens  with  such 
wares  as  shall  be  purchased  by  their  appointed  agents — the 
burgher  representatives  binding,  themselves  to  send  back  the 
said  ships,  laden  for  their  account  with  Cape  produce  ;  that  the 
same  shall  be  consigned  to  the  Honourable  Company,  to  be  sold 
by  public  auction  as  payment  of  the  imported  goods  ;  the  under- 
signed desiring  to  know,  in  case  of  this  prayer  being  granted, 
what  would  be  the  amount  of  duty  which  the  Company  would  see 
fit  to  impose  on  this  concession  of  limited  export  and  import. 

The  Cape  Burghers  further  implore  to  be  allowed  to  have  some 
vessels  to  carry  the  produce  of  the  colony,  after  the  requirements 
of  the  Company  have  been  supplied,  to  India,  and  to  receive  in 
return  wood,  rice,  and  other  articles  of  commerce  ;  and  also  they 
pray  for  a  concession  of  a  trade  in  slaves  with  Madagascar  and 
Zanzibar,  that  foreigners  may  not  enjoy  the  exclusive  profit j[of 
this  lucrative  traffic. 

The  reply  of  the  Fiscal,  to  whom  the  Memorial  was 

93 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

referred  by  the  directors,  is  a  most  significant  statement 
of  the  principles  upon  which  the  Company  had  adminis- 
tered the  colony.  To  the  request  for  political  rights  he 
replies  that  the  status  of  the  settlers  makes  such  a  claim 
absurb. 

It  would  be,  indeed,  a  serious  error  if  a  comparison  were 
attempted  between  the  inhabitants  of  a  colony  situated  as  this 
is,  and  the  privileged  free  citizens  of  our  great  towns  in  the  United 
Provinces  ...  it  would  be  a  mere  waste  of  words  to  dwell  on 
the  remarkable  distinction  to  be  drawn  between  burghers  whose 
ancestors  nobly  fought  for  and  conquered  their  freedom  from 
tyranny,  and  from  whose  fortitude  in  the  cause  of  liberty  the 
very  power  of  our  Republic  has  sprung  ;  and  such  as  are  named 
burghers  here,  who  have  been  permitted  as  a  matter  of  grace  to 
have  a  residence  in  a  land  of  which  possession  has  been  taken 
by  the  Sovereign  Power,  there  to  gain  a  livelihood  as  tillers  of 
the  earth,  tailors,  and  shoemakers.  Here  comparison  is 
impossible. 

The  modest  request  of  the  burghers  for  limited  com- 
mercial opportunities  is  declared  to  be  wholly  inconsistent 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  purposes  and  objects  for  which 
the  colony  was  founded  by  the  Company. 

The  burghers,  whose  number  is  at  present  far  too  great,  and 
whom  on  this  account  it  will  soon  be  very  difficult  to  restrain 
and  govern  with  a  due  regard  to  the  preservation  of  the  interests 
of  the  State  and  the  Honourable  Company,  desire  to  be  allowed 
a  right  of  trading  beyond  the  colony.  .  .  . 

The  object  of  paramount  importance  in  legislation  for  colonies 
should  be  the  welfare  of  the  parent  State,  of  which  such  colony 
is  but  a  subordinate  part,  and  to  which  it  owes  its  existence. 

No  great  penetration  is  needed  to  see  plainly  the  impossibility 
of  granting  such  a  petition.  The  dangerous  consequences  which 
would  result  to  the  State  in  general,  and,  in  particular,  to  the 
Honourable  Company,  from  the  concession  to  a  colony  situated 
midway  between  Europe  and  the  Indies,  of  free  commerce,  are 
manifest.  It  would  soon  be  no  longer  a  subordinate  colony, 
but  an  independent  State. x 

The  material  advance  achieved  by  a  community  thus 
administered  on  the  narrowest  lines  of  the  old  colonial 
system  was  naturally  of  the  humblest  description.  In 

1  As  translated  by  Watermeyer.     Ibid. 

94 


POSITION   IN   1795 

the  course  of  a  century  the  number  of  the  European 
population  had  grown  from  1,000  to  20,000.  The  slave 
population,  arising  out  of  the  Central  Africans  and  Malays 
imported  by  the  Company  together  with  the  offspring 
of  Hottentots  and  half-castes,  was  considerably  larger, 
and  the  "  native,'1  or  Hottentot,  population  was  somewhat 
smaller  than  the  European.  In  Capetown  itself  and  in 
the  Cape  Peninsula,  the  officials  of  the  Company,  the 
merchants,  and  the  few  successful  settlers,  living  in  the 
solidly-built  and  not  ungraceful  houses  of  which  many  are 
to  be  seen  to-day,  maintained  a  fair  standard  of  comfort 
and  civilisation.  And  here  in  the  Cape  Peninsula,  and 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Stellenbosch  and  the  Paarl, 
a  moderate  standard  of  proficiency  in  agriculture  and 
vine-growing  had  been  attained.  Beyond  these  limits 
the  "  burghers "  lived  for  the  most  part  in  isolated 
homesteads,  and  supported  themselves  with  difficulty 
by  cattle-raising  and  hunting.  Apart  from  the  machinery 
existing  for  the  conduct  of  the  company's  business,  the 
colony  was  absolutely  devoid  both  of  the  "  plant  "  and 
the  institutions  common  to  other  civilised  communities 
of  the  period.  The  progress  of  the  Atlantic  colonies 
affords  a  standard  of  comparison.  With  a  start  of 
half  a  century  the  "plantations"  of  Virginia  and  New 
England  had  by  this  date — the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century — grown  into  a  nation  of  4,000,000  people,  and 
produced  statesmen  and  soldiers  not  inferior  to  those  of 
Western  Europe.  "  In  all  things  political,  purely  despotic  ; 
in  all  things  commercial,  purely  monopolist,"  is  the 
stern,  but  just,  sentence  pronounced  by  the  late  Judge 
Watermeyer  upon  the  Company's  administration.1 

Deputations  sent  to  Holland  by  the  burghers  to  plead 
their  cause  before  the  directors  in  person,  proved  no  more 
effective  than  the  Memorial  of  1779.  When,  therefore, 
the  visit  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Prince 

1  Ibid. 

95 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

of  Orange  brought  no  prospect  of  a  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances, the  inland  burghers  openly  revolted.  At  Graaf- 
Reinet  the  Company's  landdrost  was  expelled,  and  at 
Swellendam  in  1795  a  national  assembly  was  convoked, 
with  Hermanus  Steyn  as  President,  and  a  Free  Republic 
was  declared.  It  was  at  this  crisis  that  the  renewal 
of  the  long  struggle  between  France  and  England  for 
maritime  and  commercial  supremacy  brought  a  squadron 
of  British  warships  to  the  Cape. 

Just  as  the  growth  of  its  Indian  possessions  had  led 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company  to  form  a  station  at  Table 
Bay,  so  now  the  strategic  importance  of  this  half-way 
house  to  India,  as  an  element  in  the  security  of  British 
India  and  the  East  India  trade,  made  it  necessary  for 
Great  Britain  to  prevent  the  Cape  Colony  from  falling 
into  the  hands  of  her  great  rival.  The  circumstances 
were  these.  Republican  France,  after  her  declaration 
of  war  against  Great  Britain  and  her  allies  in  1793,  had 
seized  Holland,  driven  the  Stadtholder,  William  of  Orange, 
into  exile  in  England,  and  established  a  new  government, 
styled  the  Batavian  Republic,  in  alliance  with  her  own. 
This  change  would  have  placed  the  oversea  possessions  of 
Holland  at  the  disposal  of  the  French,  had  not  Great 
Britain,  holding  the  command  of  the  seas,  been  able  to 
occupy  them  one  by  one.  The  report  that  the  French 
intended  to  seize  the  Cape  had  determined  the  British 
Government  to  send  an  expedition  of  eight  ships  and 
4,000  men,  under  Admiral  Elphinstone  (afterwards  Lord 
Keith),  to  occupy  the  colony  in  the  name  of  the  Stadt- 
holder ;  and  this  squadron  was  now  in  False  Bay,  the 
southern,  and  undefended,  harbour  of  the  Cape 
Peninsula. 

Commissary  Sluysken,  who  had  received  orders  from 
the  directors  of  the  Company  to  defend  the  colony,  if  he 
could,  against  both  French  and  English,  refused  to  recog- 
nise the  Mandate  of  the  Stadtholder,  duly  presented  by 

96 


BRITISH   OCCUPATION 

the  British  Admiral,  which  commanded  him  "  to  admit 
into  the  Castle,  as  also  elsewhere  in  the  colony  "  the 
troops  now  sent  by  the  King  of  Great  Britain.  But  the 
temper  of  the  burghers  was  such  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  offer  an  effective  resistance  to  so  strong  a  force. 
So  far  from  accepting  his  offer  of  an  amnesty  and  a  free 
pardon,  the  Swellendam  burghers  coolly  replied,  that  they 
were  surprised  "  that  the  Honourable  Commissioner  did 
not  respect  the  resolution  of  the  National  Convention, 
and  still  addressed  official  communications  to  the  Land- 
drost,  whom  they  had  deposed "  :  and  demanded  a 
specific  recognition  of  their  independence  as  a  condition 
precedent  to  bearing  arms  in  defence  of  the  colony. 
Apart  from  the  burghers,  Sluysken  had  the  company's 
garrison  of  500  Germans  and  a  few  artillerymen.  With 
these  men  he  made  a  respectable  show  of  resistance 
and  then  surrendered  ;  and  thus  on  September  16th,  1795, 
the  English  flag  was  broken  for  the  first  time  over  the 
Castle  of  Capetown. 

This  first  and  temporary  occupation  of  the  Cape  by 
Great  Britain  lasted  until  1803.  The  colony  was  then 
evacuated  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  short- 
lived peace  of  Amiens,  concluded  between  France  and 
Great  Britain  in  the  preceding  year.  By  this  time, 
as  already  mentioned,  the  administration  of  the  posses- 
sions of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  had  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  Government ;  and  the 
officer  appointed  to  take  over  the  colony  from  the  British 
authorities  was  a  member  of  the  newly-established 
Council  of  India,  Jacob  de  Mist.  Under  British  rule 
all  vexatious  restrictions  upon  internal  and  external 
commerce  had  been  at  once  abolished ;  and  de  Mist 
was  now  instructed  by  the  Government  of  Holland  to 
carry  out  the  reforms  necessary  to  replace  the  Company's 
methods  by  a  more  enlightened  system  of  administration. 
This  work  accomplished,  he  handed  the  reins  of  office 

97 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

to  the  new  Governor,  General  Janssens,  and  sailed  for 
Batavia. 

The  Treaty  of  Amiens  barely  lasted  a  year.  On 
October  21st,  1805,  Nelson,  by  destroying  the  combined 
fleets  of  France  and  Spain  at  Trafalgar,  regained  the 
mastery  of  the  seas  for  England  ;  and  a  few  months 
later,  on  January  19th,  1806,  the  Cape  was  again  sur- 
rendered to  a  British  force.  On  this  occasion,  General  Sir 
David  Baird  took  possession  of  the  colony  on  behalf 
of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  title  by  conquest, 
thus  obtained,  was  subsequently  ratified  by  treaty  and 
formal  cession  in  1814,  as  part  of  the  international  settle- 
ment which  followed  the  defeat  of  Napoleon.1  Since 
the  year  1806,  therefore,  the  English  flag  has  remained 
flying  over  the  Castle  of  Capetown. 

1  Of  the  Dutch  possessions  taken  during  the  Napoleonic  Wars, 
England  retained  Ceylon,  a  part  of  Dutch  Guiana,  and  the  Cape 
Colony  ;  she  restored  Java  (the  most  valuable  of  all  the  Dutch 
oversea  possessions,  and  the  Dutch  "India"  of  to-day),  and 
paid  a  sum  of  ^6,000,000  in  further  compensation  for  the 
territory  ceded. 


CHAPTER   VI 

SOUTH     AFRICA     UNDER     BRITISH     RULE 

THE  population  of  the  Cape  Colony  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period  of  British  rule  consisted  of  26,720  persons  of 
European  descent,  17,657  Hottentots,  and  29,256  slaves — 
in  all  73,633 ;  and  its  external  trade  was  of  the  value  of 
£160,000  per  annum.  A  hundred  years  later  the  number 
of  the  European  population  of  South  Africa  had  risen 
to  considerably  over  a  million,  and  the  value  of  its 
external  trade  had  reached  the  large  figure  of  £75,000,000 
per  annum — showing  an  amount  of  trade  per  head  of 
European  population  greater  than  that  of  any  other  of 
the  oversea  dominions.  In  the  meantime  the  area  under 
European  occupation  or  control  had  expanded  northwards 
from  the  narrow  limits  of  the  Dutch  Colony  to  the  borders 
of  the  Congo  Free  State.  These  are  facts  which  put  the 
work  of  the  British  race  in  South  Africa  on  a  level  with  the 
characteristic  achievements  of  the  Victorian  era  in  Canada, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  India  and  Egypt. 

The  merit  of  this  record  is  enhanced  by  the  circumstance 
that  it  was  won  in  the  face  of  obstacles  so  various  and  so 
stubborn,  that  after  a  century,  of  sacrifice  and  effort, 
involving  an  altogether  unprecedented  expenditure  of 
blood  and  treasure,  nothing  less  than  the  highest  military 
and  civil  talent  of  the  mother  country,  aided  by  the  man- 
hood of  the  oversea  British,  has  availed  to  keep  South 
Africa  a  part  of  the  Empire.  The  story  of  this  long- 
protracted  conflict  with  men  and  circumstances  is  more 
full  of  tragic  episodes,  and  happy  surprises,  and  withall 
of  human  interest  than  that  of  any  other  dominion.  To 
tell  it  here  with  any  degree  of  completeness  would  be 
impossible.  The  most  that  can  be  attempted  is  to  indicate 

99 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

the  cardinal  events  which  mark  the  course  of  the  main 
stream  of  South  African  history  during  the  last  100 
years.  In  order,  however,  that  these  events  may  be 
seen  in  true  perspective,  it  is  necessary  to  know  something 
of  the  objects  of  British  policy,  which,  often  deflected 
by  unforeseen  obstacles  and  changing  circumstance,  or 
swayed  by  the  clamorous  demands  of  an  Empire  in  five 
Continents,  will  be  found,  nevertheless,  through  all  its 
shifts  and  changes  to  have  preserved  an  essential  continuity 
of  aim  and  purpose. 

The  economic  progress  of  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  was  assured  from  the  moment  that  it  became 
a  part  of  the  British  commercial  system,  and  as  such 
the  home  of  a  British  population.  Its  political  and  social 
advance  was,  however,  menaced  by  the  two  conflicts — 
the  Europeans  with  the  natives,  and  the  Dutch  with  the 
British — which  circumstances  made  inevitable.  The 
primary  object  of  British  policy  was,  therefore,  to  allay 
these  conflicts.  It  recognised  that  the  supremacy  of  the 
Europeans  over  the  native  races  must  be  established  ; 
but  it  aimed  at  carrying  out  this  necessary  task  by  methods 
which  would  make  its  accomplishment  a  benefit  to  both 
parties  alike.  In  other  words,  the  natives  were  not  to  be 
destroyed  or  expatriated,  but  preserved  and  civilised, 
and  ultimately  fitted  for  a  partnership  in  industry  with 
the  Europeans.  Similarly  in  respect  of  the  second 
conflict,  while  it  recognised  that  British  ideas  must 
prevail  in  determining  the  relations  of  the  Dutch  with  the 
British,  or  of  both  with  the  natives,  it  sought  to  give  to 
the  original  Dutch,  or  Franco-Dutch,  population  a  com- 
plete liberty  to  live  their  lives  in  all  other  respects  undis- 
turbed by  any  interference  of  the  new  Government. 
Thus  the  adoption  of  British  standards  of  thought  and 
action  by  the  Dutch  was  to  be  a  voluntary  process,  and 
one  that  would  come  about  as  a  natural  consequence 
of  their  intercourse  with  the  British,  when  the  latter 

100 


EXCEPTIONAL  DIFFICULTIES 

should  begin  to  emigrate  to  the  country  in  appreciable 
numbers. 

A  policy  framed  upon  these  wise  and  humane  lines — 
lines  which  were  laid  down  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
British  administration,  and  more  than  once  subsequently 
enunciated  by  the  Home  Government — would  have 
attained  its  purposes  without  a  tithe  of  the  resistance  it 
actually  encountered,  if  it  could  have  been  applied 
singly  to  either  of  these  two  conflicts.  As  it  was,  the 
nationality  difficulty  and  the  native  question  had  to  be 
treated  in  conjunction.  The  application  of  the  policy 
of  non-interference  to  the  Dutch,  admirable  for  the 
treatment  of  the  nationality  difficulty  in  itself,  made  the 
problem  of  native  administration  infinitely  more  com- 
plicated ;  while  the  handling  of  the  native  question  on 
the  generous  lines  laid  down,  by  compelling  the  British 
Government  to  interfere  with  the  "  internal  economy  " 
of  the  Dutch  in  its  most  vital  aspect,  created  a  per- 
petual and  irritating  source  of  contention  between  it  and 
them — the  very  evil  which  the  non-interference  policy 
was  designed  to  avoid. 

A  further  element  of  exceptional  difficulty  in  the  South 
African  situation  must  be  noted.  The  mere  presence  of  the 
natives,  in  addition  to  furnishing  a  chronic  source  of 
contention  between  the  British  and  the  Dutch,  by  pro- 
viding a  cheap  supply  of  manual  labour  blocked  the  way 
against  British  emigration  on  a  large  scale  ;  since  the 
labouring  class  emigrant,  who  was  the  chief  means  of 
peopling  Australia  and  Canada,  could  find  no  market 
for  his  manual  labour  in  South  Africa.  And  so,  by  a 
strange  irony  of  fate,  justice  to  the  natives  deprived  the 
British  administration  of  the  readiest  and  most  satis- 
factory agency  for  the  solution  of  the  nationality  difficulty 
— a  rapid  introduction  of  a  British  population  large  enough 
to  have  converted  the  Dutch  into  an  appreciable,  but 
politically  impotent,  minority.  Nor  was  this  all. 

101 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Apart  from  the  check  upon  working  class  emigration  thus 
imposed  by  the  natives,  the  physical  and  economic 
conditions  of  the  country  were  such  that  it  was  difficult 
for  agricultural  emigrants  with  small  means — the  class 
who  took  up  holdings  so  successfully  in  Canada,  New 
Zealand,  and  Australia — to  make  a  livelihood  out  of 
the  land  in  South  Africa. 

The  political  significance  of  the  smallness  of  the  British 
population  in  South  Africa  is  so  great,  that  it  will  be 
worth  while  to  pause  for  a  moment  to  examine  these 
adverse  conditions.  In  the  first  place,  both  the  Bantu 
and  the  Dutch  were  beforehand  in  taking  up  the  most 
fertile  and  easily  cultivated  land ;  and  although  an 
ample  area  of  cultivable  land  remained  available  for 
settlement  west  of  the  Drakenberg,  it  was,  generally 
speaking,  impossible  to  farm  this  land  at  a  profit  without 
a  large  initial  expenditure  upon  irrigation,  buildings  and 
stock.  In  the  second  place,  the  backward  condition  of 
agriculture,  which  caused  South  Africa  to  import  much 
of  its  food  supplies,  joined  with  the  total  absence  or 
complete  inadequacy  of  its  roads  and  railways  prior  to 
1870, x  made  the  cost  of  living  unusually  high  to  all 
Europeans,  except  the  self-sufficing  Dutch  farmers.  In 
short,  all  through  the  nineteenth  century,  South  Africa 
kept  her  doors  closed  against  the  British  unskilled  work- 
man and  the  small  farmer.  And  even  when,  under 
the  stimulus  of  the  mineral  discoveries,  the  industrial 
expansion  set  in,  and  the  British  began  to  emigrate  to 
South  Africa  in  appreciable  numbers,  these  industrial 
arrivals  did  not  contribute  much  to  the  solution  of  the 
nationality  difficulty.  Being  professional  men,  clerks, 
mechanics  and  miners,  they  naturally  went  to  the  mining 
centres  or  to  one  or  other  of  the  few  considerable  towns, 
where  the  population  was  almost  exclusively  British, 

1  i.e.,  the  discovery  of  diamonds,  which  provided  the  Cape 
Colony  with  a  revenue  sufficient  to  build  up  a  railway  system. 

102 


BRITISH  POLICY 

and  not  to  the  country  districts,  where  the  great  majority 
of  the  Dutch  were  to  be  found.  And  so  the  circumstances 
that  kept  the  Dutch  and  British  apart — the  former  on 
the  land  and  the  latter  in  the  towns — combined  with 
the  smallness  of  the  British  population  as  a  whole  to 
prevent  the  fusion  of  the  colonists  of  the  two  nations, 
until  the  upheaval  of  the  great  war  brought  them  together. 

The  existence  of  these  adverse  economic  agencies 
explains  how  it  was  that  British  policy,  in  spite  of  its 
wise  aims,  should  have  failed  to  achieve  its  purposes 
without  having  recourse  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword. 
What  is  surprising  is,  not  that  conflicts  in  arms  with 
both  the  natives  and  the  Boers  should  have  been  so 
frequent,  but  that  notwithstanding  these  conflicts  so 
much  real  progress  should  have  been  accomplished. 
This  ultimate  success  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  applying 
the  policy  of  non-intervention  to  the  Dutch,  and  in 
establishing  European  control  over  the  native  races,  Brit- 
ish statesmen  never  lost  sight  of  the  two  duties  which 
belonged  to  great  Britain  as  Paramount  Power :  to  see 
that  the  natives  received  full  justice  at  the  hands  of  the 
colonists,  both  Dutch  and  British ;  and  to  provide  for 
the  safety  and  good  government  of  all  the  European 
communities  in  South  Africa,  since  they  rightly 
regarded  the  Boer  Republics  and  the  British  colonies  as 
interdependent  members  of  a  single  political  and  econ- 
omic system.  And  the  essential  justice  and  consistency 
of  British  policy  nowhere  appear  more  plainly  than  in  the 
circumstance  that  after  the  great  war — or  rather  while 
it  was  still  in  progress — it  was  able  to  take  up  the  work  of 
reconstructing  the  new  South  Africa  out  of  the  wreckage 
of  the  old,  without  in  any  respect  breaking  with  its 
past  traditions.1 

With  this  account  of  the  aims  and  difficulties  of  British 

1  All  that  was  necessary  was  to  revoke  the  grant  of  the  powers 
enjoyed  by  the  Boers  under  the  Conventions. 

103 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Administration  to  guide  him,  it  is  hoped  that  the  reader  will 
find  a  concise  statement  sufficient  to  put  him  in  possession 
of  the  main  trend  of  events  in  the  period  1806-1909. 

With  the  exception  of  the  British  officials  and  soldiers 
and  a  few  merchants  and  missionaries,  the  Dutch 
inhabitants  remained  the  sole  European  population  at  the 
Cape  for  six  years  after  the  formal  cession  of  the  colony 
to  Great  Britain  in  1814.  In  the  year  1819-20,  however, 
some  5,000  British  emigrants  were  sent  out  to  Algoa  Bay 
by  the  Government,  and  established  in  the  country 
between  the  Bushman  and  Fish  Rivers.  These  Albany 
settlers,  as  they  were  called,  founded,  or  developed, 
Port  Elizabeth  and  Grahamstown,  and  to  them  and  their 
descendants  is  due  the  present  predominance  of  the  British 
nationality  in  the  eastern  districts  of  the  Cape  Province. 

In  the  fourteen  years  prior  to  the  Albany  Settlement 
the  industries  of  the  colony,  and  in  particular  the  wool 
industry,  had  been  developed ;  legislation  had  been 
introduced,  which,  while  giving  personal  freedom  and 
rights  of  property  to  the  Hottentots,  provided  for  the 
better  security  of  the  Europeans  by  placing  these  yellow- 
skinned  natives  under  the  operation  of  special  regulations, 
similar  in  character  to  those  now  in  force  in  the  Transvaal 
and  Natal  for  the  control  of  the  dark-skinned  Bantu ; 
and  the  instruction  of  the  native  African  races  in  the 
Christian  faith  had  been  commenced  on  energetic  and 
permanent  lines  by  the  agents  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society.  The  change  in  the  status  of  the  Hottentots 
produced  some  discontent  among  the  Europeans,  and  the 
deep-seated  antipathy  between  the  Boers,  or  Dutch 
farmers,  and  the  Missionaries  had  already  made  itself 
apparent.  The  two  together  provoked  the  extraordinary 
protest  of  Bezuidenhout  and  its  sequel,  the  "  Rebellion  " 
of  Slaghter's  Nek  (1815-16),  characterised  by  Cloete 
as  "  the  most  insane  attempt  ever  made  by  a  set  of 
men  to  wage  war  against  their  sovereign/'  originating 

104 


ABOLITION   OF  SLAVERY 

entirely  in  the  unruly  passions  of  a  few  persons,  who 
"  could  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  brought  under  the 
authority  of  the  law."1  On  two  occasions  it  had  been 
necessary  to  clear  the  Colony  of  Kafir  invaders  by  force 
of  arms  (1811-12  and  1817-18),  and  as  early  as  1812 
a  post  called  Grahams  town,  with  a  garrison  of  British 
regulars,  was  established  to  protect  the  eastern  border. 
In  1826  the  Commissioners  of  Inquiry,  who  had  visited 
the  Cape  in  1823  on  their  return  from  a  similar  mission 
to  New  South  Wales,  presented  their  report,  and  certain 
administrative  changes  were  introduced  in  pursuance 
of  its  recommendations.  The  judicial  system  was 
enlarged  and  improved  ;  the  Landdrosts  and  Heemraaden 
were  replaced  by  Resident  Magistrates  and  Civil  Com- 
missioners ;  English  was  ordered  to  be  used  in  official 
communications ;  and  in  1828  the  special  regulations 
hitherto  controlling  the  native  (Hottentot)  population 
were  rescinded,  and  all  free  coloured  inhabitants  of  the 
colony  were  brought  under  the  operation  of  the  laws 
by  which  the  Europeans  were  governed.  In  the  meantime 
the  numbers  of  the  British  colonists,  raised  by  the  Albany 
Settlement  to  one-eighth  of  the  total  European  population, 
were  still  further  augmented.  While  this  process  of 
Anglicising  the  colony  was  in  progress,  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  abolished  within  the  British  dominions  by 
the  Abolition  Act  of  1833.  In  the  case  of  the  Cape  Colony 
the  period  during  which  the  slaves  were  to  remain  as 
"  apprentices  "  with  their  former  masters  ran  from  Decem- 
ber 1st,  1833,  to  December  1st,  1838 ;  and  out  of  the 
£20,000,000  voted  by  Parliament  as  compensation  to 
slave-owners,  the  sum  of  £1,247,000  was  apportioned 
to  this  colony,  as  against  the  £3,000,000  of  the  official 
valuation.  Thus,  apart  from  the  dislocation  of  industry — 

1  Five  Lectures  on  the  Emigration  of  the  Dutch  Farmers,  Cape- 
town, 1856.  In  the  interests  of  public  order,  it  was  necessary 
to  close  the  colony  for  a  time  against  any  further  missionaries. 

105 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

almost  exclusively  agricultural  and  worked  by  slave  labour 
— the  small  and  backward  community  l  of  50,000  to 
60,000  Europeans  were  involved  in  a  direct  loss  of  nearly 
£2,000,000. 

On  Christmas  Day,  1834, — little  more  than  a  year 
after  the  Abolition  Act  received  the  royal  assent — the 
eastern  border  of  the  colony  was  invaded  by  the  Kafirs 
to  the  number  of  12,000,  or  15,000  ;  the  isolated  farm- 
houses of  the  settlers,  Dutch  and  British,  were  pillaged 
and  burnt,  their  cattle  driven  off,  and  the  settlers  them- 
selves in  many  cases  ruthlessly  murdered.  Prompt 
military  assistance  was,  of  course,  given  by  the  Govern- 
ment ;  but  the  expulsion  and  punishment  of  the  Kafirs 
was  followed  by  the  most  unfortunate  "  divergence  of 
opinion  "  between  the  Governor  of  the  colony  and  the 
Secretary  of  State,  to  which  reference  has  been  made  in  a 
previous  chapter.2  In  the  same  year  (1835)  the  Boers 
in  the  eastern  districts  of  the  colony  resolved  to  divest 
themselves  of  their  allegiance  to  the  British  Government, 
and  to  seek  new  homes  for  themselves  and  their 
belongings  beyond  the  Orange  River.3  Although  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  was  felt  to  be  injurious  to 
their  material  interests,  the  justice  and  necessity  of  the 
measure  were  generally  admitted  by  the  more  advanced 
of  the  Dutch  in  the  western  districts  of  the  colony, 
upon  whom  the  monetary  loss  chiefly  fell;  and  the 
"  Great  Trek,"  as  the  secession  of  these  Dutch  farmers 
is  called,  is  to  be  attributed  more  to  the  reversal  of  Sir 
Benjamin  Durban's  frontier  policy,  together  with  the 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  period  slaves  were  as 
much  a  form  of  property  as  houses  or  land  ;  and  the  "  general 
investor  " — especially  persons  of  small  means  who  required  a  good 
return  for  their  capital — was  affected  as  well  as  the  actual 
employers  of  slave  labour,  or  the  actual  owners  of  slaves. 

1  Chap.  II,  p.  36. 

*  So  named  in  honour  of  the  Stadtholder,  William  of  Orange, 
by  an  English  explorer,  Captain  Gordon,  on  August  17th,  1779. 

106 


THE   GREAT  TREK 

Hottentot  legislation  by  which  it  was  preceded,  than  to 
the  Abolition  Act. 

The  motives  of  the  emigrants  were  stated  fully  in  a 
document  signed  by  their  leader,  Piet  Retief,  of  which 
an  exact  translation  was  published  in  The  Grahams- 
town  Journal  of  February  2nd,  1837 ;  and  a  letter 
dated  from  Sand  River  on  July  21st,  1837,  was  addressed 
by  him  to  the  Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony,  containing 
an  offer  of  a  continuance  of  friendly  relations  with  the 
British  on  the  understanding  that  the  independence  of 
himself  and  his  fellow-emigrants  was  acknowledged. 
These  documents  are  too  long  to  be  given  here,  but  a 
more  concise  and  probably  not  less  genuine  account 
of  the  origin  of  the  movement  is  to  be  found  in  "  the  quaint 
and  artless  record  "  of  Mrs.  Anna  Elizabeth  Steenekamp, 
a  niece  of  Retief,  which  she  published  in  The  Cape  Monthly 
Magazine  for  September,  1876. 

The  reasons  for  which  we  abandoned  our  lands  and  homesteads, 
our  country  and  kindred,  were  the  following  : 

1.  The  continual  depredations  and  robberies  of  the  Kafirs,  and 
their  arrogance  and  overbearing  conduct ;   and  the  fact  that,  in 
spite  of  the  fine  promises  made  to  us  by  our  Government,  we, 
nevertheless,  received  no  compensation  for  the  property  of  which 
we  were  despoiled. 

2.  The  shameful  and  unjust  proceedings  with  reference  to  the 
freedom  of  our  slaves  ;    and  yet  it  is  not  so  much  their  freedom 
that  drove  us  to  such  lengths,  as  their  being  placed  on  an  equal 
footing  with  Christians,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  the 
natural  distinction  of  race  and  religion,  so  that  it  was  intolerable 
for  any  decent  Christian  to  bow  down  beneath  such  a  yoke  ; 
wherefore  we  rather  withdrew  in  order  thus  to  preserve  our 
doctrines  in  purity. * 

The  Governor  of  the  Cape,  acting  under  instructions 
from  the  Secretary  of  State,  refused  more  than  once  to 
entertain  the  question  of  independence,  and  until  they 
obtained  a  recognised  status  under  the  Conventions 

1  As  quoted  by  the  late  Sir  John  Robinson  in  his  A  Lifetime  in 
South  Africa  (London,  1900),  p.  46.  Sir  John  agrees  with  Cloete 
in  ascribing  the  secession  mainly  to  the  inherent  difference 
between  the  Dutch  and  British  attitudes  towards  the  natives. 

107 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

(1852  and  1854),  the  Boers  remained  simply  "  emigrant 
farmers,  being  subjects  of  Her  Majesty,  who  had  made 
unlawful  incursions  into  the  territories  of  the  natives." 
On  the  other  hand,  no  attempt  was  made  to  restrain 
the  exodus,  and  altogether  some  10,000  men,  women, 
and  children,  left  the  colony  between  the  years  1835 
to  1838.  In  the  country  immediately  north  of  the 
Orange  River  the  Voertrekkers  encountered  little  or  no 
resistance,  but  beyond  the  Vaal  and  east  of  the  Draken- 
berg  they  barely  saved  themselves  from  destruction 
at  the  hands  of  the  military  Bantu.  Subsequently, 
when  their  righting  men  had  grown  in  numbers  and 
experience,  they  assumed  the  offensive,  subdued  Dingaan, 
the  treacherous  and  savage  "  King  "  of  the  Zulus,  and 
drove  the  Matabele  chief,  Moselekatze,  the  "  old  lion  of 
the  North,"  across  the  Limpopo,  there  to  subjugate  the 
peaceful  Mashonas  and  Makalaka,  and  establish  himself 
and  his  warriors  as  lords  of  the  country  since  called 
Matabeleland.  Among  all  their  defeats  and  victories  one 
day  stands  conspicuous.  On  December  16th,  1838,  the 
voertrekkers,  led  by  Pretorius,  avenged  the  murder  of 
Retief  by  routing  10,000  Zulus  and  utterly  destroying  the 
power  of  Dingaan  ;  and  the  anniversary  of  this  victory, 
called  "  Dingaan's  Day,"  is  the  greatest  event  in  the  Boer 
calendar.  But  the  Epic  of  the  Great  Trek — for  the  courage 
and  endurance  of  the  voertrekkers  and  their  women, 
the  wildness  of  the  lands  through  which  they  journeyed, 
and  the  overwhelming  numbers,  treachery,  and  ferocity 
of  their  Bantu  enemies,  raise  their  doings  to  the  height 
of  Epic — is  not  to  be  compressed  into  a  paragraph. 1 

The  secession  of  the  Boers,  by  disintegrating  great 
masses  of  the  Bantu  population  before  Great  Britain  was 

1  The  story  has  been  related  with  brevity,  but  some  precision, 
in  the  author's  History  of  South  Africa  (Temple  Encyclopaedic 
Primers).  Among  the  earliest  settlements  of  the  Boers  were 
Winburg,  "the  place  of  victory,"  so  named  in  honour  of  their 
first  successful  contest  with  Moselekatze,  founded  in  the  Free 

108 


THE  BOER  REPUBLICS 

ready  to  carry  out  the  work  of  bringing  them  under 
European  control,  largely  increased  the  difficulties  of  the 
administration  of  South  Africa.  In  particular,  the 
primary  duty  of  protecting  the  settlers  in  the  eastern  and 
north-eastern  borders  of  the  Cape  Colony  from  Kafir 
inroads  was  rendered  more  onerous  and  more  costly. 
And  it  was  a  natural  impatience  on  the  part  of  the  Home 
taxpayer  at  the  constantly  recurring  Kafir  wars,  which, 
more  than  any  other  consideration,  led  the  British  Govern- 
ment to  grant  internal  independence  to  the  Boers  under 
the  terms  of  the  two  conventions,  concluded  respectively 
at  Sand  River  in  1852,  and  Bloemfontein  in  1854. 

As  the  circumstances  in  which  this  change  of  policy 
was  put  into  effect  have  been  related  before,1  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  notice  here  that  the  character  of  these  two 
documents,  which  mutatis  mutandis  are  identical,  shows 
that  by  this  action  Great  Britain  did  not  intend  to  divest 
herself  of  any  of  her  essential  rights  as  the  Paramount 
Power  in  South  Africa.  Thus,  in  the  Sand  River 
Convention  the  Assistant-Commissioners  "  guaranteed  in 
the  fullest  manner  on  the  part  of  the  British  Government 
to  the  Emigrant  Farmers  beyond  the  Vaal  River  the  right 

State  in  1837  ;  Pietermaritzburg,  the  capital  of  Natal,  named 
from  the  two  leaders,  Piet  Retief  and  Gert  Maritz,  and  laid  out 
in  1839  ;  and  Lydenberg  and  Potchefstroom  in  the  Transvaal. 
Of  these,  Winburg  was  subsequently  superseded  by  the  present 
capital  of  the  Free  State,  Bloemfontein,  which  lies  some  50  miles 
to  the  south.  Potchefstroom,  the  old  capital  of  the  Boers  beyond 
the  Vaal,  was  similarly  displaced  by  Pretoria,  the  present  capital 
of  the  Transvaal,  and  the  administrative  capital  of  the  Union. 
This  latter  town,  however,  was  not  founded  until  some  years 
after  the  Sand  River  Convention.  It  took  its  name  from  Andries 
Pretorius,  the  voertrekker,  and  Commandant-General  of  the 
Transvaal  Boers  ;  and,  in  1860,  when  the  three  so-called  republics 
beyond  the  Vaal  united  under  one  government,  it  was  adopted 
as  the  capital  of  the  new  state — the  South  African  Republic. 
Maritzburg  alone  has  retained  its  dignity,  and  is  the  capital  of  the 
Natal  Province  to-day. 

1  In  Chap.  II,  p.  37. 

109 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

to  manage  their  own  affairs,  and  to  govern  themselves 
according  to  their  own  laws,  ....  and  that  no  encroach- 
ment should  be  made  by  the  said  Government  on  the 
territory  beyond,  to  the  north  of  the  Vaal  River  .  .  .  " 
In  Article  II,  provision  is  made  for  the  delimitation  of 
boundaries  in  the  event  of  disputes ;  in  Article  III  alliances 
with  the  coloured  natives  north  of  the  Vaal  River  are 
disclaimed  on  behalf  of  the  British  Government ;  in 
Article  IV  it  is  agreed  that  no  slavery  is  or  shall  be  per- 
mitted, or  practised  by  the  Emigrant  Farmers ;  and  by 
Article  VI  the  Farmers  are  permitted  to  obtain  arms  and 
ammunition  in  the  British  Colonies,  subject  to  the  mutual 
understanding  that  all  trade  in  ammunition  with  the 
natives  is  prohibited  both  by  the  British  Government  and 
the  Emigrant  Farmers  on  both  sides  of  the  Vaal  River. 

The  Convention  with  the  Boers  between  the  Orange  and 
Vaal  Rivers  was  not  made  until  two  years  later.  Here 
the  settlements  of  the  emigrants  had  been  administered 
directly  by  Great  Britain  since  1847,  under  the  style  of  the 
Orange  River  Sovereignty ;  and  the  decision  to  abandon 
this  dependency,  to  which  the  Convention  of  Bloemfontein 
gave  effect,  was  by  no  means  welcome  to  the  majority 
of  its  inhabitants. 

In  this  way,  then,  the  settlements  founded  by  the 
Emigrant  Farmers  west  of  the  Drakenberg  became 
respectively  the  South  African  Republic,  or  Transvaal, 
and  the  Orange  Free  State.  Natal,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  retained.  The  reasons  for  the  distinction  were  these. 
In  the  first  place,  the  earliest  settlers  in  Natal  were 
not  the  Emigrant  Farmers,  but  some  Englishmen  who  had 
established  themselves  lawfully  at  Port  Natal  (Durban) 
in  1824,  under  a  concession  obtained  from  the  Zulu  king, 
Tshaka.  In  the  next,  since  the  date  at  which  it  had  been 
proclaimed  a  British  colony  (1843),  a  large  proportion 
of  the  Boers  had  returned  across  the  Drakenberg  in  disgust 
at  the  ample  assignment  of  separate  lands  to  the  natives, 

110 


NATAL   RETAINED 

and  in  1848-50  some  4,000  British  immigrants  had  been 
introduced.  The  effect  of  this  settlement — known  as  the 
Byrne  settlement  from  the  name  of  its  chief  promoter — in 
conjunction  with  the  withdrawal  of  the  Boers  was  to  make 
the  population  of  Natal  predominantly  British.  An 
even  more  important  consideration  was  the  circumstance 
that  Natal  was  not  an  inland,  but  a  maritime  colony, 
possession  of  which  would  have  enabled  the  Boers  to  have 
entered  into  an  effective  alliance  with  other  European 
powers,  and  thus  created  a  relationship  entirely  incon- 
sistent with  Great  Britain's  position  as  Paramount 
Power  in  South  Africa. 1  There  was  never  any  question, 
therefore,  of  abandoning  Natal ;  and  in  1850,  when  the 
European  community  had  grown  to  8,500,  a  representative 
constitution  was  conferred  upon  them.  The  sub-tropical 
conditions  of  the  colony  and  the  early  introduction  of 
British  Indian  immigrants,  prevented  any  rapid  increase 
of  the  European  population,  and  full  self-government  was 
not  established  until  1893.  At  the  same  time  the  colony 
always  retained  its  British  character,  and  it  forms  to-day 
the  one  province  of  the  Union  in  which  the  British  element 
predominates.  Between  the  Byrne  settlement  and  the 
era  of  industrial  expansion  that  followed  the  discovery 
of  diamonds  and  gold,  only  one  other  considerable  accession 
to  the  European  population  of  South  Africa  was  made  by 
organised  immigration.  In  1857  some  4,000  men  who  had 
fought  in  the  Anglo-German  Legion  in  the  Crimean  War 
were  established  on  farms  by  Sir  George  Grey  in 
British  Kaffraria;  and  in  the  next  year  they  were 
reinforced  by  the  introduction  of  2,000  agricultural 
immigrants  from  North  Germany.  These  German  settlers, 

1  In  1842,  upon  the  arrival  of  a  Dutch  vessel,  the  Brazilia,  the 
Volksraad  of  the  Emigrant  Farmers  of  Natal  concluded  a  formal 
treaty  with  a  Mr.  Smellekamp,  purporting  to  be  an  acceptance  on 
their  part  of  the  protection  of  Holland.  It  was  in  view  of  this 
proceeding  that  the  military  occupation  of  Durban  was  at  once 
resumed. 

Ill 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

together  with  a  certain  number  of  farmers  from  the  Cape 
Colony  to  whom  holdings  had  been  granted  on  condition 
of  their  serving  in  arms  against  the  Kafirs,  when  called 
upon  by  the  Government,  colonised  British  Kafrraria, 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  subsequent  development 
of  King  William's  Town,  and  its  port,  East  London.1 

The  reader  has  been  made  acquainted  now  with  the 
chief  sources  from  which  South  Africa  has  drawn  its 
European  population,  and  with  the  circumstances  in 
which  the  four  European  states,  to-day  constituting  the 
Union  of  South  Africa,  came  into  being.  Rhodesia, 
born  thirty-five  years  later  and  not  as  yet  a  member  of 
the  Union,  alone  remains  to  be  accounted  for. 

The  position  created  in  1854  by  the  application  of  the 
non-interference  policy  to  the  emigrant  Boers,  and  the 
further  measures  by  which  it  was  accompanied,  was  this. 
The  British  Government  remained  directly  responsible 
for  the  Cape  and  Natal,  and  for  the  small  and  partially 
civilised  portion  of  the  densely  populated  native  areas 
lying  between  the  two  colonies,  styled  British  Kaffraria. 
In  respect  of  the  Cape  Colony,  however,  the  administra- 
tive responsibilities  of  the  Home  Government  were 
somewhat  reduced  by  the  establishment,  in  1853,  of 
representative  institutions.  Over  the  native  territories 
in  general,  and  over  the  Boer  Republics,  Great  Britain 
retained  only  the  rights  of  the  Paramount  Power  ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  right  to  intervene,  as,  and  when,  the  interests 
of  South  Africa  as  a  whole  should  seem  to  make  such 
intervention  necessary. 

It  was  believed  that  by  thus  limiting  her  responsibilities 
Great  Britain  would  the  better  secure  the  undisturbed 
development  of  the  two  British  Colonies  upon  British 

1  The  opportunity  for  the  establishment  of  a  European  popula- 
tion in  British  Kaffraria  was  due  to  the  remarkable  panic  caused 
by  the  prophecies  of  Nongase  (1856),  which  reduced  the  native 
population,  by  flight  and  starvation,  from  105,000  to  38,000. 
British  Kaffraria  was  incorporated  into  the  Cape  Colony  in  1865. 

112 


INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 

lines ;  and  that  these  colonies,  when  thus  developed, 
would  by  the  mere  process  of  economic  laws  draw  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Boer  Republics  back  again  into  the 
British  system.  In  any  case,  the  decade  which  saw  the 
Crimean  war  and  the  Indian  mutiny  was  not  a  time  in 
which  British  statesmen  could  afford  to  risk  the  unneces- 
sary employment  of  any  of  the  slender  military  resources 
at  their  disposal  for  the  defence  of  the  Empire  as  a  whole. 
Possibly,  too,  this  forecast  would  have  been  realised,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  suddenness  with  which  the  then  un- 
dreamt of  mineral  wealth  of  South  Africa  was  revealed 
and  exploited. 

The  events  which  actually  happened  are  so  recent  and 
notorious  that  the  mere  names  and  dates  will  serve  to 
bring  them  before  the  mind  of  the  reader.  Up  to  the 
discovery  of  diamonds  at  Kimberley  in  1870  South  Africa, 
in  spite  of  recurring  conflicts  between  the  Europeans  and 
the  natives,  continued  to  make  steady  industrial  progress, 
but  progress  so  slow  in  comparison  with  the  rapid  advance 
achieved  in  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Canada,  that  it 
was  fitly  typified  by  the  ox- wagon,  the  characteristic 
vehicle  of  the  country.  The  vine,  for  the  growth  of  which 
the  soil  and  climate  of  the  Cape  was  especially  suitable, 
was  cultivated  in  the  Cape  Peninsula  and  the  fertile 
country  around  Stellenbosch  and  the  Paarl,  and  a  fair 
proportion  of  the  wine  produced  found  a  market  in  Eng- 
land. The  wool  industry,  which  had  originated  in  the 
importation  of  merinos  from  New  South  Wales  in  the  early 
years  of  British  administration,  had  been  developed  with 
energy  and  success  by  the  British  settlers  in  the  eastern 
districts  of  the  colony.  The  fine-haired  Angora  goat 
had  been  successfully  introduced  from  Asia  Minor  in 
1856,  and  the  production  of  mohair  for  the  Yorkshire 
mills  formed  a  lucrative  industry.  Ostrich  farming  had 
become  an  even  more  profitable  pursuit,  when,  in  1869, 
Mr.  Arthur  Douglas,  of  Albany,  had  perfected  his 

113 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

artificial  incubator ;  and  Port  Elizabeth,  as  the  market 
and  place  of  export  for  feathers  and  wool,  had  grown  to 
be  a  town  of  some  commercial  importance.  In  Natal  the 
sugar  industry  had  been  founded  by  the  new  British 
settlers  in  1850,  and  experiments  had  been  made  in  the 
raising  of  other  sub-tropical  produce.  The  communi- 
cations of  the  Cape  Colony  had  been  improved  also. 
An  excellent  system  of  roads  had  been  constructed  in 
1844,  and  in  the  early  sixties  one  or  two  short  railway 
lines  were  made. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  diamond  mines  at 
Kimberley  the  industrial  development  of  South  Africa 
quickened  its  pace ;  and  when,  fifteen  years  later,  the 
greatest  and  most  permanent  goldfield,  as  yet  known 
to  the  world,  was  found  on  the  rock-strewn  veld  of  the 
Witwatersrand,  it  finally  abandoned  the  ox-wagon 
tradition,  and  began  to  move  forward  with  the  impe- 
tuosity of  a  locomotive.  The  political  situation  developed 
with  equal  rapidity.  The  proclamation  of  British 
authority  over  the  diamond  fields  in  1871,  was  followed 
by  territorial  disputes  with  both  the  Boer  Republics ; 
and  the  policy  of  non-intervention  being  no  longer  pos- 
sible, the  effort  was  made  to  re-unite  them  to  the  British 
Colonies  in  a  federal  system  with  which  the  names  of  Lord 
Carnarvon,  J.  A.  Froude,  Sir  Theophilus  Shepstone, 
and  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  are  identified  (1874-80).  In  the 
endeavour  to  give  effect  to  Lord  Carnarvon's  South 
Africa  Act  (1877),  the  Transvaal  was  annexed  in  1877, 
and  two  years  later  the  Zulu  tribe  which  under  Ketch- 
wayo  had  become  the  most  formidable  military  power 
in  South  Africa,  was  subjugated  and  brought  under 
European  control. 

The  failure  of  this  effort  to  achieve  federation  (1880) 
was  followed  by  the  revolt  of  the  Transvaal  Boers,  and 
the  remarkable  success  of  the  burgher  arms,  joined  with 
the  risk  of  a  general  rising  of  the  Dutch  population 

114 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RAND 

throughout  South  Africa,  caused  the  British  Government 
to  withdraw  its  administration  from  the  country  under 
the  terms  of  the  Convention  of  Pretoria  (1881).  By 
this  instrument  the  suzerain  rights  of  Great  Britain  over 
the  Boer  Republic  were  specifically  maintained ;  but 
three  years  later  it  was  replaced  by  a  new  Convention — 
the  Convention  of  London — in  which,  in  the  words  of  the 
(then)  Colonial  Secretary,  Lord  Derby,  the  substance  of 
the  suzerainty  was  retained,  but  the  term  itself  in 
deference  to  Boer  susceptibilities  no  longer  appeared. 
Almost  before  the  ink  of  the  London  Convention  was  dry, 
the  South  African  Republic  (as  the  Transvaal  for  the 
first  time  was  now  officially  designated)  attempted  to 
extend  its  authority  over  the  peaceful  Bechuanas  beyond 
its  western  border,  over  whom  a  British  protectorate 
had  been  declared.  This  encroachment,  which  would 
have  shut  off  the  Cape  Colony  from  the  trade  route  to 
the  interior  of  Africa,  was  prevented  by  the  despatch  of  an 
expedition  under  Sir  Charles  Warren  (1884-5),  and  the 
conversion  of  southern  Bechuanaland  into  a  Crown 
colony.  In  view  of  the  occupation  by  Germany  of 
territory  on  the  west  coast  in  1884,  and  the  imminence 
of  further  raids  into  native  territory  on  the  part  of  the 
Boers,  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate  was  proclaimed 
(March  23rd,  1885)  to  extend  westward  to  East  Longitude 
20°  and  northward  to  South  Latitude  22° ;  and  by  this 
action  it  was  made  impossible  for  the  South  African 
Republic  to  extend  its  northern  or  western  borders 
without  directly  violating  British  territorial  rights. 

The  British  Government  hoped  that  these,  and  other 
extensions  of  British  authority  made  at  this  period,  would 
remove  any  opportunity  for  further  conflict  between  the 
Paramount  Power  and  the  northern  Republic.  In  the 
very  next  year,  however,  the  proclamation  of  the  Rand 
as  a  public  goldfield  (September,  1886)  introduced  a 
new  and  disturbing  factor  into  the  field  of  South  African 

115 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

politics.  With  the  establishment  of  the  gold  industry 
and  the  sudden  growth  of  an  industrial  population, 
mainly  British  and  almost  as  numerous  as  the  Boers, 
the  annual  revenue  of  the  South  African  Republic  rose 
from  £177,876  in  1885  to  nearly  £5,000,000  in  1897.  The 
authority  of  the  President,  Paul  Kruger,  had  become 
meanwhile  the  dominating  influence  in  the  Republic, 
and  the  aim  of  this  remarkable  man  was  to  gain  the 
political  control  of  all  South  Africa  for  the  colonists  of 
Dutch  descent.  With  this  end  in  view,  the  surplus 
millions  provided  by  the  gold  industry  of  the  Rand  were 
employed  in  the  purchase  of  arms  and  munitions  of  war 
sufficient  to  equip  not  only  his  own  burghers  and  those  of 
the  sister  Republic,  but  his  Afrikander  adherents  within 
the  British  Colonies ;  while  money  was  spent  freely  in  the 
subvention  of  friendly  journals,  and  the  furtherance  of 
Boer  diplomacy,  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  To  add 
a  touch  of  irony  to  the  situation,  the  British  population, 
to  whom  this  sudden  wealth  of  the  Transvaal  was  almost 
entirely  due,  and  by  whom  nine-tenths  of  the  revenue 
was  furnished,  was  excluded  from  the  rights  of  citizenship 
— rights  which  the  British  Government  had  intended 
to  secure,  and,  as  it  claimed,  had  specifically  secured 
in  the  London  Convention,  for  them  and  for  all  future 
British  subjects  who  might  reside  in  the  Republic. 

While  fate  was  placing  these  weapons  in  the  hands  of 
President  Kruger  a  powerful  defender  of  the  interests 
of  the  British  in  South  Africa  had  been  revealed  in  the 
person  of  Cecil  John  Rhodes.  The  name  of  Rhodes 
has  been  enrolled  among  the  makers  of  the  Empire,  and 
his  words  and  deeds  have  passed  into  the  common  stock 
of  British  thought  and  knowledge.  Only  two  outstanding 
actions  of  his  life  need  be  recalled  here.  In  1888-9  he 
founded  the  British  South  Africa  Company  under  Royal 
Charter  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  vast  interior 
stretching  northwards  from  the  Crown  Colony  of 

116 


THE  GREAT  WAR 

Bechuanaland  to  Central  Africa  ;  and  in  the  year  following 
the  Company's  pioneers  effected  the  peaceable  occupation 
of  Mashonaland,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  system  of 
colonies,  now  called  after  him,  Rhodesia.  In  the  autumn 
of  1905,  Rhodes,  being  then  Prime  Minister  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  sanctioned  and  controlled  the  equipment  of  a 
force  of  the  Company's  troopers,  which,  together  with 
the  Reform  movement  on  the  Rand,  brought  about  the 
Jameson  Raid  (December  29th,  1895— January  2nd, 
1896).  Both  Rhodes  himself  and  Doctor  (now  Sir 
Starr)  Jameson  have  freely  acknowledged  that  a  grave 
political  wrong  was  then  committed,  and  both  have  since 
performed  services  for  South  Africa  and  the  Empire  that 
expiate  their  common  fault.  The  military  preparations 
of  President  Kruger,  which  had  begun  before  the  Raid 
took  place,  were  now  urged  on  with  redoubled  energy 
and  determination  ;  and  when,  in  1899,  Mr.  Chamberlain 
determined  to  insist  upon  the  grant  of  political  rights  to 
the  British  residents  in  the  Transvaal,  the  Dutch  of  the 
two  Republics  and  a  large  proportion  of  their  kinsmen  in 
the  British  Colonies  were  so  confident  of  their  military 
strength,  that,  rather  than  acknowledge  the  rights  of 
Great  Britain  as  Paramount  Power,  they  elected  to  submit 
their  cause  to  the  arbitrament  of  war. 

The  great  conflict  which  began  with  the  expiry  of  the 
forty-eight  hours  allowed  by  the  Transvaal  ultimatum 
on  October  1 1th,  1899,  was  terminated  by  the  Surrender 
Agreement  of  May  31st,  1902.  Under  the  terms  of  this 
instrument  the  burghers  then  in  the  field  laid  down  their 
arms,  and  acknowledged  King  Edward  VII  to  be  their 
lawful  sovereign.  On  the  other  hand,  the  British  Govern- 
ment undertook  to  repatriate  the  Dutch  inhabitants  of 
the  late  Republics,  almost  all  of  whom  were  either 
prisoners  of  war  or  inmates  of  the  Refugee  camps,  and  to 
establish  representative  institutions,  leading  up  to  full 
local  autonomy  in  the  new  colonies,  so  soon  as 

117 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

circumstances  should  permit.  The  terms  of  Peace  were 
honourable  alike  to  both  parties ;  and  the  long  war, 
terrible  as  was  the  loss  of  life  and  property  which  it 
entailed,  left  the  people  of  the  two  races  with  a  vastly 
better  knowledge  of  each  other. 

With  the  departure  of  the  army  of  the  Empire,  led 
successively  by  Sir  Redvers  Buller,  Lord  Roberts  and  Lord 
Kitchener,  the  reins  of  South  African  administration  fell 
into  the  strong  hands  of  Lord  Milner  (1897-1905).  As 
Governor  of  the  Cape  Colony  and  High  Commissioner  for 
South  Africa  he  had  earned  the  confidence  both  of  the 
Home  Government  and  of  the  British  and  loyal  Dutch 
in  South  Africa  ;  and  while  the  war  was  in  its  later  stages, 
as  Governor  of  the  New  Colonies  he  had  thought  out  the 
processes,  and  in  part  created  the  actual  administrative 
machinery,  of  the  Reconstruction.  The  repatriation  was 
accomplished  with  such  smoothness  and  rapidity,  that 
within  seven  months  of  the  declaration  of  peace  Mr. 
Chamberlain  was  able  to  visit  the  new  and  old  Colonies 
of  South  Africa,  and  to  discuss  the  problems  of  the  situa- 
tion with  Lord  Milner  on  the  spot  (December  28th,  1902 — 
February  25th,  1903).  Just  two  years  later  (March 
31st,  1905)  Lord  Milner  resigned  his  offices.  In  less 
than  three  years  of  peace  he  had  reconstructed  the  entire 
political  and  economic  fabric  of  the  new  colonies  upon 
a  wider  and  more  enlightened  basis.  In  so  doing  he  had 
vastly  increased  the  material  resources  of  their  inhabi- 
tants, created  a  civil  service  at  once  pure  and  efficient, 
doubled  the  railways,  built  schools  and  public  buildings, 
and  brought  the  joint  finances  of  the  two  colonies  to  a  point 
which  secured  the  early  provision  of  the  funds  necessary  to 
complete  their  equipment  as  civilised  and  progressive 
States.  At  the  same  time,  as  High  Commissioner,  he  had 
skilfully  promoted  every  form  of  inter-state  action  among 
the  separate  colonies,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the 
establishment  of  an  administration  common  to  them  all. 

118 


PART  II 


THE   GOVERNMENT 


CHAPTER    I 

THE   UNION   CONSTITUTION 

WHEN  Lord  Milner  left  South  Africa,  the  Balfour  Ministry 
had  determined  to  establish  the  half-way  house  of 
Representative  Government  in  the  Transvaal,  but  to  make 
no  change  in  the  existing  Crown  Colony  administration 
of  the  Orange  River  Colony.  In  the  electoral  system 
to  be  created  by  the  Lyttelton 1  Constitution  two  prin- 
ciples of  capital  importance  had  been  embodied,  with  a 
view  of  securing  absolute  political  equality  for  all  European 
citizens.  The  parliamentary  constituencies  were  to  be 
as  nearly  as  practicable  equal  not  merely  in  point  of  popu- 
lation, but  in  the  actual  number  of  electors  ;  and  to  pre- 
vent these  originally  equal  constituencies  from  becoming 
unequal  through  the  irregular  movement  of  population, 
there  was  to  be  an  automatic  redistribution  of  seats, 
again  on  a  basis  of  electors,  at  intervals  of  every  few 
years.  At  the  same  time  the  qualifications  for  the  fran- 
chise were  fixed  so  low,  that  every  European  adult  who 
was  earning  a  livelihood  was  able  to  obtain  a  vote. 

Before,  however,  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the 
first  elections  under  this  constitution  had  been  completed, 
the  Unionist  Government  went  out  of  office,  and  a  Liberal 
Government  succeeded  them  (December  12th,  1905). 

1  Mr.  Alfred  Lyttelton  had  succeeded  Mr.  Chamberlain  in  1903 
as  Secretary  for  the  Colonies. 

119 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

In  respect  of  South  Africa,  the  policy  to  which  Sir  Henry 
Campbell-Bannerman  and  other  Liberal  leaders  were 
pledged,  differed  materially  from  that  of  their  Unionist 
predecessors.  They  disapproved  of  the  employment  of 
the  indentured  Chinese  labourers  introduced  in  1904 
for  the  Rand  Gold  industry  ;  and  they  had  determined — 
in  part  because  they  did  not  want  to  deprive  the  Transvaal 
of  the  new  labour  supply  on  their  own  responsibility — 
to  establish  "  responsible  "  government  in  both  the  new 
colonies  without  the  intermediate  stage  of  "  representa- 
tive "  government.  As  the  general  election  of  January, 
1906,  gave  the  Liberal  party  a  very  large  majority  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  steps  were  taken  at  once  by  the 
new  Government  to  put  into  effect  their  decisions  on  both 
points.  The  Lyttelton  Constitution  was  annulled,  and 
on  December  6th,  1906,  Letters  Patent  were  issued 
establishing  responsible  government  in  the  Transvaal, 
while  a  similar  constitution  was  granted  to  the  Orange 
River  Colony  in  the  following  year. 

The  electoral  system  created  by  the  Elgin1  Constitu- 
tions maintained  the  voters*  basis  of  the  equality  of 
constituencies  and  automatic  redistribution  ;  but  in  the 
Transvaal  more  seats  were  assigned  to  districts  where 
the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  Dutch,  and  cor- 
respondingly fewer  to  districts  where  the  British  pre- 
dominated, than  would  have  been  the  case  under  the 
Lyttelton  Constitution.  The  Transvaal  elections,  held 
in  February,  1907,  placed  a  Dutch  Government  with 
General  Botha  as  Prime  Minister  in  power,  and  in  Novem- 
ber of  the  same  year  Mr.  Abraham  Fischer  became 
Prime  Minister  of  the  Orange  River  Colony  with,  of 
course,  a  relatively  much  larger  majority  of  Dutch 
members  to  support  him. 

Two  other  political  changes  must  be  recalled  before  the 
actual  birth  of  the  Union  can  be  related.  Lord  Milner's 

1  Lord  Elgin  was  the  new  (Liberal)  Secretary  for  the  Colonies. 

120 


CLOSER  UNION   MOVEMENT 

successor,  as  Governor  of  the  New  Colonies  and  High 
Commissioner,  was  Lord  Selborne,  who  arrived  in  South 
Africa  in  May,  1905  ;  and  in  February,  1908,  the  Pro- 
gressives, who  had  been  in  office  in  the  Cape  Colony 
since  the  beginning  of  1904,  were  defeated  at  the  polls 
by  the  South  African  party,  with  the  result  that  Sir 
Starr  (then  Dr.)  Jameson  was  succeeded  in  the 
premiership  of  this  colony  by  Mr.  John  X.  Merriman. 
In  order  to  trace  the  agencies  which  brought  about 
the  rapid  creation  of  the  Union  (1908-9),  we  must  go  back 
for  a  moment  to  the  work  done  by  Lord  Milner  in  South 
Africa  during  the  three  pregnant  years  that  followed  the 
peace  of  Vereeniging  (1902-5).  Before  he  left  the  Trans- 
vaal, the  reconstruction  of  the  new  colonies  had  reached 
a  point  which  placed  these  states  not  merely  on  a  level 
with  the  old  colonies,  but  actually  in  advance  of  them,  in 
respect  of  administrative  efficiency  and  industrial  develop- 
ment. The  heads  of  departments  and  other  officials 
whom  he  had  enlisted  contained  the  pick  of  the  Civil 
Service  of  the  Cape  and  Natal,  together  with  a  number  of 
young  and  brilliant  men  gathered  from  England  and 
the  Empire  at  large.  Among  the  latter  were  a  group  of 
university  men,  scornfully  designated  by  his  opponents 
the  "  Oxford  Kindergarten  "  ;  and  it  was  a  few  members 
of  this  group  that  two  years  after  Lord  Milner's  departure 
provided  the  enthusiasm,  constructive  ability,  and  tech- 
nical knowledge,  which  first  started,  and  then  carried  to  a 
successful  termination,  the  movement  for  the  closer 
union  of-  the  four  self-governing  colonies  of  South  Africa. 
Moreover,  during  the  (nearly)  two  years  which  intervened 
between  Lord  Milner's  resignation  and  the  establishment 
of  Responsible  Government,  the  agencies  which  he  had 
introduced  had  time  to  mature  ;  and  the  new  colonies, 
served  by  the  Milner  officials  under  the  sympathetic 
guidance  of  Lord  Selborne,  advanced  still  further  in 
administrative  efficiency  and  in  the  general  development 

121 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

of  their  resources. x  And  in  South  Africa  at  large,  with 
the  Progressive  Ministry  still  in  office  in  the  Cape  Colony, 
the  traditions  of  the  Milner  High  Commissionership 
were  maintained.  Chief  among  these  was  the  campaign 
against  "  localism  "  in  all  its  forms,  and  the  endeavour 
to  promote  concerted  action  among  the  various  South 
African  Governments  upon  all  matters  of  common 
concern.  In  particular  the  effort  to  terminate  the  in- 
jurious competition  between  the  various  Colonial  Govern- 
ments for  the  trade  of  the  Rand,  on  the  basis  of  a  partial 
or  complete  amalgamation  of  the  competing  railway 
systems,  was  continued ;  and  continued  on  the  lines 
laid  down  by  Lord  Milner  in  the  Railway  Rates  Conference 
of  February,  1905,  over  which  he  had  presided. 

In  March,  1906,  the  Customs  Union  Convention  to 
which  the  five  colonies  had  agreed  in  March,  1903,  was 
renewed  for  two  years  (i.e.,  as  from  July  1st,  1906,  to 
June  30th,  1908)  ;  but  the  discussions  by  which  this 
action  was  preceded,  showed  that  the  task  of  recon- 
ciling the  financial  and  industrial  interests  of  the  separate 
South  African  Governments  was  becoming  increasingly 
difficult.  Later  on  in  the  same  year  Mr.  Lionel  Curtis, 
the  Assistant  Colonial  Secretary  for  Urban  Affairs  in  the 
Transvaal  Crown  Colony  administration,  with  the  assis- 
tance of  his  colleagues  Mr.  W.  L.  Hichens  (Treasurer), 
Mr.  Patrick  Duncan  (Colonial  Secretary),  Mr.  R.  H. 
Brand  (Secretary  to  the  Inter-Colonial  Council),  and  of 
Mr.  Feetham,  formerly  clerk  to  the  Municipality  of 

1  So  admirable  was  Lord  Milner's  Civil  Service,  that,  on  the 
establishment  of  Responsible  Government,  although  the  actual 
heads  of  departments  naturally  resigned  to  give  place  to  ministers 
"  responsible  to  Parliament,"  the  Civil  servants,  as  a  whole,  were 
retained  by  the  Dutch  Governments  in  both  colonies.  Not  only 
so,  but,  on  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  Lord  Milner 's  officials 
were  again  appointed  to  the  most  important  non-political, 
administrative  positions,  e.g.,  Sir  T.  R.  Price  became  head 
of  the  combined  railways,  and  Mr.  F.  B.  Smith  head  of  the 
Union  Department  of  Agriculture. 

122 


THE  FEDERATION   MEMORANDUM 

Johannesburg,  drew  up  a  statement  showing  the  urgent 
necessity  for  administrative  union.  Mr.  Curtis,  who  was 
on  the  eve  of  resigning  his  position  in  view  of  the 
approaching  establishment  of  Responsible  Government  in 
the  Transvaal,  was  warmly  encouraged  by  Lord  Selborne  ; 
and  Sir  Starr  Jameson,  as  Prime  Minister  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  provided  an  opportunity  for  bringing  the  argu- 
ments of  Mr.  Curtis  and  his  associates  before  the  public 
of  South  Africa,  by  formally  asking  (November  28th) 
Lord  Selborne,  as  High  Commissioner,  to  "  review  the 
situation  " — the  "  situation  "  being  the  apparent  im- 
possibility of  settling  the  disputes  on  fiscal  and  railway 
questions  then  outstanding  between  the  various  South 
African  Governments.  In  response  to  this  invitation, 
Lord  Selborne  embodied  the  work  of  the  Curtis  group  in 
his  Federation  Memorandum,  which  was  sent  to  the  South 
African  Governments  on  January  7th,  1907,  and  published 
for  the  use  of  the  general  public  in  the  following  July. 
This  group  of  Crown  Colony  officials,  steeped  in  the 
Milner  traditions,  provided  not  only  the  technical  know- 
ledge1 necessary  for  framing  the  Union  Constitution, 
but  the  driving  power  which  brought  the  Union  into 
being.  Formed  into  a  Committee  for  the  promotion  of 
closer  union,  they  obtained  valuable  recruits  in  General 
J.  C.  Smuts,  then  a  member  of  the-  Botha  (Transvaal) 
Ministry ;  Mr.  Malan,  the  Editor  of  Ons  Land,  in  the 
Cape  Colony  ;  and  Sir  (then  Mr.)  Abe  Bailey,  who  con- 
tributed to  the  cost  of  publishing  the  periodical  and 
other  literature  devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  their  cause. 
By  the  Cape  General  Election  of  February,  1908,  as 

1  Mr.  Curtis,  in  particular,  as  the  direct  agent  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  admirable  system  of  local  self-government  intro- 
duced into  the  Transvaal  before  Lord  Milner  resigned,  possessed 
an  ample  experience  of  the  methods  of  adjusting  the  conflicting 
claims  of  central  and  local  authorities.  But  the  administrative 
experience  of  his  colleagues  was  scarcely  less  complete  and 
appropriate. 

123 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

already  noticed,  the  South  African  party  was  placed  in 
office  in  this  colony  ;  but  the  new  government,  of  which 
Mr.  Malan  was  a  member,  was  no  less  favourable  to 
closer  union  than  its  predecessor,  and  when  the  Inter- 
Colonial  Conference  on  Customs  and  Railway  Rates 
met  in  the  following  May,  the  general  progress  of  the 
movement  throughout  South  Africa  at  once  became 
apparent.  The  business  of  the  Conference  was  to  pro- 
vide for  the  renewal  of  the  Customs  Union  Convention 
expiring  on  the  following  June  30th  ;  and  the  seriousness 
of  the  position  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Transvaal 
Government  had  already  given  notice  of  its  intention 
to  retire  from  the  Customs  Union.  In  these  circumstances 
the  representatives  of  the  four  Self-governing  Colonies 
passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  in  which  they  pledged  their 
respective  governments  to  carry  out  immediately  all 
preliminary  measures  necessary  for  the  creation  of  a 
Central  Government,  and  then,  after  the  Transvaal  had 
withdrawn  its  notice  to  retire,  the  Customs  Convention 
was  renewed  for  one  year. 

In  pursuance  of  this  decision  the  National  Convention 
met  at  Durban  on  October  8th,  and  again,  after  an 
adjournment  of  a  month,  at  Capetown  on  November 
23rd.  Among  the  delegates  appointed  to  represent  the 
various  colonies  were  :  For  the  Cape,  Mr.  J.  X.  Merriman 
(Prime  Minister),  Mr.  Malan,  Sir  Henry  (now  Lord)  de 
Villiers  (President  of  the  Convention),  and  Sir  Starr 
Jameson  ;  for  Natal,  Mr.  Moor  (Prime  Minister)  ;  for  the 
Transvaal,  General  Louis  Botha  (Prime  Minister), 
General  J.  C.  Smuts,  Sir  George  Farrar,  and  Sir  Percy 
Fitzpatrick ;  for  the  Orange  River  Colony,  Mr.  Fischer 
(Prime  Minister),  and  ex-President  Steyn ;  while  Rhodesian 
interests  were  watched  over  by  Sir  William  Milton 
(the  Administrator),  and  Sir  Lewis  Mitchell  (a  director 
of  the  Chartered  Company).  The  one  conspicuous 
absence  was  that  of  Mr.  Jan  Hofmeyr,  the  veteran  leader 

124 


THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION 

of  the  Afrikander  Bond  in  the  Cape  Colony,  who  was 
understood  to  have  refused  nomination  on  the  ground 
that  his  known  preference  for  a  federal  union  was  in 
conflict  with  the  general  feeling  of  the  majority  of  the 
Cape  delegates  in  favour  of  a  Central  Government  with 
more  than  federal  powers.  Mr.  Brand  was  attached  to 
the  Transvaal  Delegation  as  its  Secretary,  and  Mr. 
Patrick  Duncan  as  its  legal  adviser  ;  while  Mr.  Curtis 
himself  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  making  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Convention  intelligible  to  the  general  public 
of  South  Africa  through  the  agency  of  the  closer  union 
organisations,  the  platform,  and  the  press. 

What  had  always  been  recognised  as  the  great  practical 
obstacle  to  administrative  union,  was  the  difficulty  of 
ascertaining  the  revenual  value  of  that  part  of  the  assets 
of  the  several  states  which  consisted  in  their  respective 
(Government)  railway  systems.  But,  curiously  enough, 
when  the  actual  moment  of  deliberation  came,  this 
obstacle  was  the  first  to  be  overcome.  The  difficulty  was 
solved  by  following  the  course  which  Lord  Milner  had 
adopted  in  the  New  Colonies.  Here  the  inevitable 
friction  which  would  have  arisen  from  an  attempt  to 
apportion  the  earnings  of  the  railways  as  between  the 
Transvaal  and  the  Orange  River  Colony,  had  been  avoided 
by  the  creation  of  a  common  authority,  the  Inter-colonial 
Council,  which  administered  the  railways  of  both  colonies 
as  a  joint  concern,  and  applied  the  revenue  which  it 
received  to  the  maintenance  of  certain  common  services. 
In  accordance  with  this  precedent,  the  Convention  at 
once  decided  to  place  the  railways,  ports,  and  harbours 
under  the  control  of  a  Board  of  Commissioners,  independent 
of  political  influences,  by  whom  these  competitive  sources 
of  revenue  were  to  be  administered  in  the  future  as  one 
industrial  undertaking,  and  in  the  common  interests 
of  the  people  of  the  Union  as  a  whole.  The  next  question 
to  be  settled  was  the  nature  of  the  Central  Government. 

125 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  choice  lay  between  the  two  forms  of  union  of  which 
the  Australian  and  Canadian  constitutions  were  respec- 
tively typical ;  federation  and  unification.  Under  the 
former,  the  Central  Government  would  derive  its  authority 
from  the  component  states,  and  transact  only  so  much  of 
the  common  business  of  the  Union  as  the  State  Govern- 
ments decided  to  place  in  its  hands.  Under  the  latter, 
the  Central  Government  would  itself  be  the  originating 
authority,  and  the  provincial  governments  would  exercise 
only  such  powers  as  it  might  decide  to  delegate  to  them. 
This  second  form — unification — was  strongly  advocated 
by  the  Transvaal  delegates,  and  it  was  adopted  by  the 
Convention.  In  another  crucial  matter — the  recog- 
nition of  the  principle  of  equal  rights — the  Transvaal 
delegates  were  also  successful  in  guiding  the  decision  of 
the  conference.  It  was  agreed  accordingly  that  the  basis 
of  the  numerical  equality  of  the  Parliamentary  Con- 
stituencies of  the  Union  should  be  "  electors  "  and  not 
"  population,"  and  that  there  should  be  an  automatic 
redistribution  of  seats  every  five  years. 

Two  thorny  questions  were  compromised.  In  respect 
of  the  admission  of  natives  to  the  parliamentary  franchise 
the  practice  of  the  Cape  Colony  was  in  direct  conflict 
with  that  of  the  remaining  colonies.  As  no  agreement 
on  the  question  of  the  admission  or  non-admission  of 
natives  to  the  Union  franchise  could  be  reached,  the 
Convention  decided  that  the  franchise  qualifications 
existing  in  the  several  colonies  should  stand  as  the 
franchise  qualifications  for  the  Union  Parliament  in  the 
respective  provinces  of  the  Union.  As  the  result  of  this 
compromise,  while  the  native  voters  in  the  Cape  Province 
obtained  the  Union  franchise,  practically  no  natives  were 
admitted  to  this  privilege  in  the  remaining  three  pro- 
vinces. In  South  Africa,  as  in  Australia,  it  was  found 
impossible  to  take  any  one  of  the  capital  cities  of  the 
four  constituent  colonies  as  the  capital  of  the  Union. 

126 


THE  CAPE  AMENDMENTS 

The  compromise  on  this  head  was  ingenious.  Pretoria 
became  the  seat  of  the  administration  ;  but  the  Legis- 
lature was  to  assemble  at  Capetown,  and  the  Judicature 
was  to  be  installed  at  Bloemfontein.  At  the  same  time 
provision  was  to  be  made  for  compensating  the  muni- 
cipalities of  Maritzburg  and  Bloemfontein,  and  (if 
necessary)  those  of  Capetown  and  Pretoria,  for  any 
diminution  of  prosperity  due  to  these  new  arrangements. 

The  National  Convention  issued  its  report  on  February 
2nd,  1909.  The  draft  constitution  of  the  Union  was 
published  a  week  later,  and  was  considered  by  the 
respective  parliaments  of  the  four  colonies,  assembled  in 
special  session,  at  the  end  of  March.  The  parliaments 
of  the  Transvaal  and  Orange  River  Colony  accepted 
the  constitution  bill  as  drafted  ;  that  of  Natal  agreed  to 
its  provisions  subject  to  the  promise  of  the  Government 
that  the  question  of  joining  the  Union  should  be  submitted 
to  a  referendum  before  the  colony's  final  acceptance  was 
notified.  In  the  Cape  Parliament,  however,  a  number  of 
amendments  were  passed,  which,  if  they  had  become  a 
part  of  the  measure,  would  have  subverted  the  principle 
of  "  equal  rights "  upon  which  the  Transvaal  delegates 
had  insisted,  as  being  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  South 
Africa. 

On  May  3rd,  the  Convention  reassembled  at  Bloem- 
fontein to  discuss  the  amendments  of  the  Cape  Parlia- 
ment. For  a  time  the  fate  of  the  Union  remained  un- 
certain. In  the  end,  the  Transvaal  delegates,  while  refusing 
to  sacrifice  the  principle  of  "  equal  rights,"  agreed  to 
certain  departures  from  the  strict  application  of  the 
formula  "  one  man,  one  vote,"  which  removed  all  the 
justifiable  grievances  of  the  Cape  Colony.  In  respect 
of  the  popular  chamber,  the  Assembly,  the  system  of 
proportional  representation  with  multi-member  consti- 
tuencies was  abandoned  in  favour  of  the  simpler,  but  less 
exact,  majority  vote  in  single-member  constituencies. 

127 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  number  of  "  electors,"  as  against  that  of  "  popu- 
lation," was  retained  as  the  basis  of  the  numerical  equality 
of  these  constituencies  in  the  several  provinces,  but  the 
division  of  the  total  number  of  seats  in  the  Assembly, 
as  between  the  four  colonies,  was  to  be  made  on  a  basis 
of  the  total  "adult  males,"  not  the  total  "electors/* 
of  each  colony.  This  gave  a  slight  advantage  to  th^ 
Cape  Colony  and  Natal,  where  certain  (low)  qualifica- 
tions were  necessary  to  obtain  the  franchise,  as  against 
the  New  Colonies  in  which  manhood  suffrage  (for  Euro- 
peans) had  been  established  under  the  Elgin  Constitutions. 
In  the  Upper  Chamber,  the  Senate,  however,  there  was 
to  be  an  absolute  equality  of  seats  as  between  the  several 
colonies,  each  contributing  sixteen  members ;  and  the 
system  of  proportional  representation,  with  the  single 
transferable  vote,  was  to  be  applied  in  the  election  of  the 
elective  members  of  this  body.1 

The  Convention  concluded  its  labours  on  May  llth. 
The  Draft  Act  of  Union,  as  now  amended,  was  accepted 
by  the  parliaments  of  all  the  colonies  with  the  exception 
of  Natal ;  and  here,  when  the  Referendum  had  been 
taken,  it  was  found  that  a  very  large  majority  of  the 
electors  were  in  favour  of  their  colony  joining  the  Union. 
The  Act  as  passed  by  the  South  African  legislatures  was 
introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords  on  July  22nd,  and 
into  the  House  of  Commons  on  August  19th.  During  its 
passage  through  the  British  parliament  an  amendment 
was  carried,  specifically  vesting  the  control  of  matters 
affecting  Asiatics,  as  well  as  those  affecting  the  native 
population,  in  the  Union,  as  against  the  Provincial, 
authorities.  With  this  change — a  change  to  which  no 
objection  was  offered  by  the  South  African  statesmen  in 
charge  of  the  Draft  Act — the  South  Africa  Act  received 
the  royal  assent  on  September  20th.  A  proclamation 
of  December  2nd  declared  May  31st,  1910,— the  eighth 

1  Half  were  to  be  nominated,  and  half  to  be  elected. 

128 


FIRST  UNION   MINISTRY 

anniversary  of  the  peace  of  Vereeniging — to  be  the  day  on 
which  the  Union  Constitution  should  come  into  operation. 
The  elections  for  the  Assembly  were  held  throughout 
the  four  provinces  on  September  15th  ;  and  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Union  Parliament  was  opened  by  the 
Duke  of  Connaught l  on  December  4th. 

The  elections  had  given  a  considerable,  but  not 
overwhelming  majority  of  members  to  the  South  African, 
as  against  the  Progressive,  party,  and  the  first  Union 
ministry,  of  which  General  Botha  was  the  head,  was 
constituted  as  follows  : 

Prime  Minister  and  Minister  of  Agriculture,  General 
the  Rt.  Hon.  L.  Botha. 

Minister  of  Railways  and  Harbours,  the  Hon.  J.  W. 
Sauer. 

Minister  of  the  Interior,  Minister  of  Mines,  and  Minister 
of  Defence,  General  the  Hon.  J.  C.  Smuts. 

Minister  of  Justice,  the  Hon.  J.  B.  M.  Hertzog. 

Minister  of  Education,  the  Hon.  F.  S.  Malan. 

Minister  of  Finance,  the  Hon.  H.  C.  Hull. 

Minister  of  Lands,  the  Hon.  A.  Fischer. 

Minister  of  Native  Affairs,  the  Hon.  H.  Burton. 

Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industries,  Colonel  the  Hon. 
G.  Leuchars. 

Minister  of  Public  Works  and  Minister  of  Posts  and 
Telegraphs,  the  Hon.  Sir  D.  P.  de  V.  Graaff. 

Minister  without  Portfolio,  Senator  the  Hon.  Dr.  C. 
O'Grady-Gubbins. 

The  Provincial  Elections  were  held  on  September 
15th,  in  the  Cape  and  Transvaal  provinces,  and  on 
October  12th,  in  the  Free  State  and  Natal. 

This  account  of  the  birth  of  the  Union — necessarily 
brief  and  jejune — will  have  revealed  something  of  the 

1  The  King  had  intended  to  open  the  Union  Parliament  (as 
Prince  of  Wales),  but  was  prevented  from  doing  so  by  the  death 
of  King  Edward  VII  in  May  of  the  same  year. 

129 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

character  of  the  national  Government  thus  for  the  first 
time  established  in  South  Africa,  and  thereby  have 
prepared  the  way  for  the  study  of  the  constitution  itself 
which  now  awaits  us.  In  framing  the  Act  of  Union  the 
members  of  the  National  Convention  had  the  benefit 
of  the  special  knowledge  possessed  by  the  Closer  Union 
Committee,  and  in  particular  by  Mr.  Curtis  and  his 
colleagues  of  the  Crown  Colony  administration.  They 
were  also  able  to  avail  themselves  of  the  results  shown 
by  the  working  of  the  federal  system  in  varying  forms  in 
Australia,  Canada,  and  the  United  States.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  the  Union  constitution,  as  a 
piece  of  statesmanship,  should  be  an  advance  upon  those  of 
the  sister  dominions. 

The  purposes  of  the  Union  Act  (South  Africa  Act, 
1909),  are  excellently  stated  in  the  preamble.  They  are  : 
(1)  To  unite  the  several  British  Colonies  in  South  Africa 
under  one  Government  in  a  legislative  union  under  the 
Crown  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ; 

(2)  To  provide  for  the  union  of  the  Colonies   of   the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Natal,  the  Transvaal,  and  the  Orange 
River  Colony  on  the  terms  agreed  upon  by  resolution  of 
their  respective  Parliaments  ; 

(3)  To  define  the  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial 
powers  to  be  exercised  in  the  Government  of  the  Union  ; 

(4)  To    provide    for   the    establishment    of   provinces 
with  powers  of  legislation  and  administration  in  local 
and  other  matters  specially  reserved  for  the  provincial 
governments ; 

(5)  To  provide  for  the  eventual  admission  into  the 
Union  or  transfer  to  the  Union  of  such  parts  of  South 
Africa  as  are  not  originally  included  therein. 

The  provisions  for  bringing  the  Union  constitution 
into  force  contain  only  one'  particular  which  merits 
attention/  Under  Section  6,  effect  is  given  to  a  graceful 
concession  to  Dutch  Afrikander  sentiment  which  was 

130 


THE  EXECUTIVE 

made  by  the  British  delegates  to  the  National  Convention. 
In  becoming  a  province  of  the  Union  the  Orange  River 
Colony  reverts  to  the  name  it  bore  before  the  war  ;  and 
thus  the  four  colonies  mentioned  in  the  preamble  became 
original  provinces  of  the  Union  "  under  the  names  of 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Natal,  Transvaal,  and  Orange  Free 
State." 

THE  UNION  EXECUTIVE 

The  executive  Government  of  the  Union  is  vested  in 
the  King ;  and  is  administered,  in  practice,  by  his 
representative,  the  Governor-General,  for  whom  an  annual 
salary  of  £10,000  is  at  present  provided.  In  the  general 
discharge  of  his  duties,  the  Governor-General  is  advised 
by  the  executive  council,  which  holds  the  same  relation  to 
him  as  the  "  Cabinet  "  of  the  United  Kingdom  holds 
to  the  King  himself.  There  is,  however,  a  distinction 
between  the  powers  of  the  "  Governor-General  "  and  the 
powers  of  the  "  Governor-General  in  Council "  (i.e., 
as  acting  with  the  advice  of  the  Executive  Council). 
As  "  Governor-General,"  he  chooses  and  dismisses  the 
Executive  Councillors  at  his  pleasure,  exercises  the 
command-in-chief  of  the  naval  and  military  forces  within 
the  Union,  and  appoints  officers  (not  exceeding  ten  in 
number)  to  administer  the  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  to  be  "the  King's  ministers  of  State  for  the 
Union."  But  it  is  as  "  Governor-General  in  Council " 
that  he  establishes/  such  Departments,  and  appoints 
or  removes  officers  of  the  public  service  of  the  Union. 
The  ministers  become  members  of  the  Executive  Council 
upon  appointment,  and  as  in  England  and  the  other 
dominions,  although  they  are  Ministers  of  the  King, 
they  are  "  responsible  "  for  their  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Union  to  the  elected  representatives  of  the 
people  in  Parliament.  That  is  to  say,  directly  any 
ministry  ceases  to  command  a  majority  in  the  Repre- 
sentative chamber,  the  Assembly,  the  Prime  Minister 

131 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

tenders  his  resignation  to  the  Governor-General,  who, 
if  he  accepts  it,  thereupon  sends  for  the  leader  of  the  party 
with  the  more  numerous  following,  and  requests  him  to 
undertake  the  formation  of  a  new  ministry.  If,  however, 
the  defeated  ministry  believe  that  by  a  direct  appeal  to 
the  electors  they  will  recover  their  command  of  the 
Assembly,  then  (as  is  the  practice  in  England)  the  Gover- 
nor-General dissolves  Parliament,  a  general  election 
is  held,  and  the  ministry  resign,  or  continue  in  office, 
according  as  their  newly-elected  supporters  form  a 
minority  or  a  majority  in  the  new  House  of  Assembly. 
But  the  Union  ministry,  although  "  responsible  "  to 
the  Union  Parliament  and  people,  is  not  entirely  in  the 
same  position  as  an  English  ministry.  By  making  a 
distinction  between  the  action  of  the  King's  represen- 
tative as  "  Governor-General "  and  as  "  Governor- 
General  in  Council,"  the  British  Parliament  has  refrained 
from  investing  the  Union  ministry  with  certain  executive 
powers  which  a  British  ministry  possess  in  practice, 
though  not  in  theory.  In  England  the  King  follows  the 
advice  of  his  ministers.  If,  in  any  grave  crisis,  he  does 
not  do  so,  then  the  ministry  resign  ;  and  it  remains  for 
the  King  to  find  other  ministers  to  carry  on  the  admin- 
istration— ministers  with  whom  he  is  in  sympathy,  and 
whose  advice,  therefore,  he  is  able  to  follow.  But  in 
the  Union  of  South  Africa  the  King  acts  through  his 
representative  the  "  Governor-General "  in  independence 
of  his  Union  ministers.  As,  however,  the  King  follows 
the  advice  of  his  ministers  in  England,  it  is  the  British 
Government  for  the  time  being  in  office  which,  thus 
acting  through  the  "  Governor-General,"  in  reality  com- 
mands the  naval  and  military  forces,  appoints  and 
dismisses  ministers,  and,  as  we  shall  notice  in  discussing 
the  legislative  powers  of  the  Union  Government,  gives 
or  withholds  its  assent  to  the  bills  passed  by  the  Union 
Parliament.  It  is  by  virtue  of  these  powers,  and  other 

132 


THE  LEGISLATURE 

analogous  powers  exercised  over  other  dominions  of  the 
Crown,  that  the  British  Parliament  is  rightly  styled  the 
"  Imperial  Parliament." 

As,  moreover,  the  Government  of  the  United  Kingdom 
derives  its  authority  from  the  elected  representatives  of 
the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom,  it  is  the  people  of  the 
United  Kingdom  who  ultimately  possess  the  control 
over  the  Government  of  the  Union,  which  is  embodied 
in  the  powers  exercised  by  the  Governor-General  as 
"  Governor-General,"  as  distinct  from  "  Governor-General 
in  Council."  Thus  we  have  the  people  of  one  part  of  the 
Empire  exercising  control  over  the  people  of  another  part. 
The  justification  for  this  anomaly  is  to  be  found  in  another 
anomaly.  For  the  time  being  the  people  of  the  United 
Kingdom  provide  virtually  the  whole  of  the  funds  neces- 
sary to  maintain  the  sea  and  land  forces  by  which  the 
safety  of  the  Empire,  as  a  whole,  is  secured.  The 
remedy,  therefore,  is  clear.  So  soon  as  the  Union  of 
South  Africa  and  the  other  dominions  are  able  and  willing 
to  contribute  adequately  to  the  cost  of  the  defence  of  the 
Empire,  they  will  require  the  creation  of  a  genuine 
Imperial  authority  to  control  the  common  affairs  of  the 
different  members  of  the  Empire,  and  one  in  which  they 
can  be  directly  and  effectively  represented.  When  such 
an  authority  has  been  constituted,  the  people  of  South 
Africa,  or  the  people  of  any  other  dominion,  will  be  able 
to  submit  to  its  control  without  any  loss  of  national 
dignity ;  since  it  will  be  an  authority  of  which  they 
themselves,  through  their  representatives,  form  a  part. 

THE  UNION  LEGISLATURE 

The  legislative  power  of  the  Union  is  vested  in  the 
Parliament  of  the  Union,  which  consists  of  the  King,  the 
Senate,  and  the  House  of  Assembly. 

Of  these  three  elements  the  Governor-General,  as  the 
King's  representative,  has  power  to  appoint  the  times  for 

133 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  sessions  of  Parliament,  and,  by  proclamation  or 
otherwise,  to  prorogue  Parliament,  and  to  dissolve  the 
Senate  and  the  House  of  Assembly  simultaneously,  or  the 
House  of  Assembly  alone.  The  original  Senate,  however, 
cannot  be  dissolved  within  ten  years  of  the  establishment 
of  the  Union  (1910).  Parliament  must  meet  in  session 
at  least  once  in  every  year,  "  so  that  a  period  of  twelve 
months  shall  not  intervene  between  the  last  sitting  of 
Parliament  in  one  session  and  its  first  sitting  in  the  next 
session."  The  Act  declares  that  Pretoria  shall  be  the  seat 
of  Government  of  the  Union,  and  Cape  Town  the  seat  of 
the  Union  legislature. 

The  Senate,  as  originally  constituted  under  the  Act  of 
Union,  consists  of  sixteen  members  from  each  province, 
eight  nominated  by  the  Governor-General  in  Council, 
and  eight  elected  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Union 
by  the  respective  parliaments  of  the  four  colonies,  the 
two  houses  in  each  case  having  sat  together  in  special 
session  as  one  body  ;  and  has  thus  a  total  of  sixty-four 
members,  of  whom  half  are  nominated  and  half  elected. 
The  original  senators,  whether  nominated  or  elected,  hold 
their  seats  for  ten  years  ;  but  after  the  expiration  of  this 
period  the  Union  Parliament  is  empowered  to  provide 
itself  for  the  manner  in  which  the  Senate  is  to  be  consti- 
tuted. In  the  absence  of  any  such  provision,  however, 
the  original  method  of  constituting  the  Senate  is  to  be 
maintained,  with  the  exception  that  the  respective  pro- 
vincial councils  are  substituted  for  the  Colonial  parlia- 
ments as  the  bodies  to  elect  senators.1  In  the  event 
of  an  election  of  senators  being  contested,  "  the  election 
is  to  be  according  to  the  principle  of  proportional 
representation,  each  voter  having  one  transferable  vote." 

1  In  the  case  of  a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  number  of  the 
original  elected  members,  however,  the  provincial  council  con- 
cerned is  to  elect  a  successor  in  conjunction  with  the  members 
of  the  Union  House  of  Assembly  from  the  province  in  question. 

134 


THE  SENATE 

The  sub-section  (24  ii)  dealing  with  the  appointment  of 
the  thirty-two  nominated  senators  provides,  that  in  the 
case  of  each  province  one-half  of  the  senators  nominated 
"  shall  be  selected  on  the  ground  mainly  of  their  thorough 
acquaintance,  by  reason  of  their  official  experience  or 
otherwise,  with  the  reasonable  wants  and  wishes  of  the 
coloured  races  in  South  Africa."  This  is  noticeable 
as  being  the  only  provision  made  in  the  constitution  for 
the  representation  of  the  native  and  coloured  inhabitants 
of  the  three  provinces  of  the  Transvaal,  Natal,  and  the 
Free  State.1  It  is  also  a  useful,  if  limited,  effort  to 
provide  for  the  special  legislative  requirements  of  the 
coloured,  as  apart  from  the  European,  population  of 
the  Union  as  a  whole. 

The  qualifications  of  a  senator  require  a  candidate  for 
this  office  (1)  to  be  not  less  than  thirty  years  of  age,  (2) 
to  be  qualified  to  vote  for  the  election  of  the  members 
of  the  Union  House  of  Assembly,  (3)  to  have  resided  for 
five  years  in  the  Union,  (4)  to  be  a  "  British  subject  of 
European  descent,"  and  (5)  in  the  case  of  elective  sena- 
tors, to  be  "  the  registered  owner  of  immovable  property 
within  the  Union  of  the  value  of  not  less  than  £500 
over  and  above  any  special  mortgages  thereon."  For 
the  purposes  of  this  latter  qualification,  "  residence  in," 
and  "  property  situated  within "  a  colony  before  its 
incorporation  in  the  Union,  are  to  be  treated  as  residence 
in,  and  property  situated  within  the  Union. 

The  senate  elects  its  President  from  among  its  members. 
The  president  has  a  casting  vote  in  the  case  of  an  equality 
of  votes  ;  he  may  be  removed  by  a  vote  of  the  Senate, 
or  he  may  resign  by  writing  addressed  to  the  Governor- 
General,  and  he  ceases  to  hold  office  if  he  ceases  to  be  a 
senator.  Twelve  members  are  necessary  to  form  a 
quorum,  and  all  questions  are  decided  by  a  majority  of 

1  In  the  Cape  Colony,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  coloured 
voters  obtained  the  Union  franchise. 

135 

io— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

votes.     The  method  of  resignation  in  the  case  of  a  senator 
is  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  President. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  ASSEMBLY  AND  THE  ELECTORAL  SYSTEM 
OF  THE  UNION 

The  House  of  Assembly  is  composed  of  members 
directly  chosen  by  the  voters  of  the  Union  in  their 
respective  electoral  divisions.  As  originally  constituted, 
the  Assembly  consisted  of  121  members  elected  from  the 
four  provinces  respectively  in  the  numbers  following  : 
from  the  Cape,  51  ;  from  Natal,  17  ;  from  the  Transvaal, 
36 ;  and  from  the  Free  State,  17.  While  provision  is 
made  for  increasing  these  numbers  up  to  a  total  of  150, 
as  may  be  required  by  the  growth  of  population  in  any, 
or  all,  of  the  four  provinces  from  time  to  time,  it  is 
expressly  declared  that  no  original  province  shall  lose 
any  of  its  seats,  until  either  this  total  has  been  reached, 
or  ten  years  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment  of  the 
Union  (1910),  whichever  may  be  the  longer  period.  The 
formation  of  the  Union  constituencies  was  effected  by  a 
joint  commission  of  four  judges,  of  whom  one  was 
appointed  by  each  of  the  four  Colonial  Governments  prior 
to  the  Union.  This  commission  was  empowered  to  divide 
each  province  into  single-member  constituencies  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Act,  and  between 
the  date  of  the  passing  of  the  Act  and  the  establishment 
of  the  Union.  The  method  of  division  was  as  follows. 
A  quota,  or  constituency  unit,  was  first  obtained  in  the 
case  of  each  province  by  dividing  the  total  number  of 
voters  on  the  roll  at  the  last  registration  by  the  number 
of  seats  assigned  to  the  province  under  the  Act.  Thus, 
taking  x  to  be  the  total  number  of  voters  in  any  one 
province,  the  quota  for  the  Cape  would  be  /T,  that  for 
Natal  TT,  and  so  on.  Having  thus  obtained  the  quota 
for  any  one  province,  the  commissioners  were  directed 
to  divide  the  total  number  of  voters  in  the  province 

136 


HOUSE  OF  ASSEMBLY 

into  electoral  divisions  containing  a  number  of  voters  as 
nearly  as  might  be  equal  to  this  quota.  In  so  doing  they 
were  to  give  due  consideration  to,  (a)  community  or 
diversity  of  interests ;  (b)  means  of  communication ; 
(c)  physical  features ;  (d)  existing  electoral  boundaries  ; 
and  (e)  sparsity  or  density  of  population.  And,  to  enable 
them  to  give  effect  to  this  provision,  they  were  further 
empowered  to  depart  from  the  quota  to  the  extent  of 
making  any  constituency  to  contain  15  per  cent,  more,  or 
15  per  cent,  less  voters  than  the  actual  number  of  the 
quota. 

Provision  is  also  made  in  the  Act  for  the  increase  and 
redistribution  of  seats  in  the  House  of  Assembly,  in 
accordance  with  the  movement  of  population,  both  as 
between  the  provinces  of  the  Union  and  as  between  the 
constituencies  of  any  one  province. 

The  method  of  readjusting  the  representation  of  the 
provinces  is  laid  down  in  Section  34.  The  quota  of  the 
Union  is  obtained  by  dividing  the  total  number  of  Euro- 
pean male  adults  in  the  Union,  as  ascertained  at  the 
census  of  1904,  by  the  total  number  of  members  of  the 
House  of  Assembly  as  originally  constituted.  For  the 
purposes  of  the  Act  the  total  number  of  European  male 
adults,  as  thus  ascertained,  was  taken  to  be  : 

For  the  Cape 167,546 

„     Natal 34,784 

„     the  Transvaal        ..  106,493 

the  Free  State 41,014 


Or  a  total  of         349,837 

And  as  the  total  number  of  members  to  be  elected  was 
121,  the  Union  quota  was  : 

349,837 

=2891-2 

121 

or,  a  little  under  3,000. 

137 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  Act  continues  : 

In  1911,  and  every  five  years  thereafter,  a  census  of  the 
European  population  of  the  Union  shall  be  taken  for  the  purposes 
of  this  Act. 

After  any  such  census,  the  number  of  European  male  adults 
in  each  province  shall  be  compared  with  the  number  of  European 
male  adults  as  ascertained  at  the  census  of  1904,  and,  in  the 
case  of  any  province  where  an  increase  is  shown,  as  compared 
with  the  census  of  1904,  equal  to  the  quota  of  the  Union  or  any 
multiple  thereof,  the  number  of  members  [originally]  allotted  to 
such  province  .  .  .  shall  be  increased  by  an  additional  member 
or  an  additional  number  of  members  equal  to  such  multiple,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

No  province,  however,  is  to  obtain  an  additional 
seat,  until  its  total  of  adult  European  males  "  exceeds 
the  quota  of  the  Union  multiplied  by  the  number  of  mem- 
bers "  already  allotted  to  it ;  and  then  the  additional 
members  are  to  be  allotted  only  in  respect  of  this  excess. 
The  necessity  of  this  proviso  will  be  seen  by  comparing  the 
number  of  seats  actually  assigned  to  each  province  with 
the  number  of  seats  to  which  the  provinces  were 
respectively  entitled  on  a  basis  of  adult  male  European 
population  only.  Thus  the  Cape  Province,  with  167,546 
European  male  adults,  was  allotted  fifty-one  seats. 
It  was  actually  entitled  to  : 

167546 

=57 

2891-2 

Natal,  with  34,784  European  male  adults,  was  allotted 
seventeen  seats.  It  was  actually  entitled  to  twelve. 
The  Transvaal,  with  106,493  European  male  adults,  was 
allotted  thirty-six  seats — the  number  to  which  it  was 
entitled.  The  Free  State,  with  41,014  European  male 
adults,  was  allotted  seventeen  seats.  It  was  entitled 
only  to  fourteen.  In  other  words,  while  the  Cape  and  the 
Transvaal — allowing  for  the  exceptionally  rapid  increase 
of  population  in  this  latter  province — were  under- 
represented,  the  two  smaller  provinces  were  considerably 
over-represented  in  the  original  House  of  Assembly. 

138 


ELECTORAL  SYSTEM 

The  returns  of  the  1911  census  show  the  respective 
increases  of  European  population  in  the  several  provinces 
to  be  as  follows  :  The  Cape,  3,436 ;  Natal,  1,473 ;  the 
Transvaal,  123,554  ;  and  the  Free  State,  32,756.  And, 
as  the  result  of  them,  the  Transvaal  will  gain  presumably 
some  additional  seats  in  the  next  House  of  Assembly. 

When  the  number  of  members  of  the  House  of  Assembly 
has  been  increased  by  the  operation  of  the  above  provisions 
to  a  total  of  150,  no  more  additional  seats  are  to  be 
allotted,  "unless  and  until  Parliament  other  wise  provides." 
The  distribution  of  the  150  seats  among  the  provinces  is 
then  to  be  such,  that  the  proportion  between  the  European 
male  adults  and  the  number  of  members  returned  in  each 
province  is  "as  far  as  possible  identical  throughout  the 
Union."  This  identity  is,  however,  subject  to  the  proviso 
that  no  original  province  is  to  have  less  than  the  total 
number  of  seats  originally  allotted  to  it. 

The  qualifications  necessary  to  enable  persons  in  the 
four  provinces  to  vote  for  the  election  of  members  of  the 
House  of  Assembly  are,  as  we  have  before  had  occasion 
to  notice,  "  the  qualifications  of  parliamentary  voters, 
as  existing  in  the  several  colonies  at  the  establishment  of 
the  Union."  And  the  laws  and  regulations  for  the  regis- 
tration of  voters,  the  conduct  of  elections,  etc.,  of  the 
several  colonies  are  applied  mutatis  mutandis  to  the 
elections  of  members  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  subject 
to  the  proviso  that  at  a  General  Election  all  polls  are  to 
be  taken  on  the  same  day.  No  member  of  His  Majesty's 
forces  on  full  pay,  however,  can  be  registered  as  a  Union 
voter. 

The  fact  that  it  was  only  in  the  Cape  Colony  that 
public  opinion  had  allowed  any  considerable  number  of 
coloured  persons  to  obtain  the  parliamentary  franchise, 
has  made  it  necessary  to  guard  the  political  rights  of  these 
Cape  coloured  voters  in  the  Union  constitution.  While, 
therefore,  the  Act  gives  power  to  the  Union  Parliament 

139 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

to  establish  by  law  a  Union  franchise,  it  expressly  pro- 
vides that  no  such  law  shall  disqualify  any  of  the  coloured 
voters  of  the  Cape  province  from  being  registered  as  a 
Union  voter  in  that  province  "  by  reason  of  his  race  or 
colour  only,"  unless  the  bill  be  passed  "  by  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  sitting  together,  and  at  the  third  reading 
be  agreed  to  by  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  members  of  both  Houses."  And  further,  if  a 
law  is  thus  passed,  no  original  coloured  voter,  or,  in  the 
words  of  the  Act,  no  person  registered  as  a  voter  in  any 
province  at  the  passing  of  the  law,  is  to  be  removed  from 
the  register  by  reason  only  of  any  disqualification  based 
on  race  or  colour. 

The  quinquennial  allocation  of  members  as  between 
the  several  provinces,  and  the  redistribution  of  these 
seats  among  the  voters  of  each  province,  is  to  be  carried 
out  by  a  commission  of  three  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  South  Africa,  which  is  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council  as  soon  as  possible  after  every  quin- 
quennial census  has  been  taken.  These  commissions 
are  to  have  the  powers,  and  to  follow  the  methods,  of  the 
original  Joint  Commission  in  respect  of  both  the  allocation 
of  seats  as  between  the  several  provinces  and  the 
re-division  of  the  electoral  divisions  of  any  one  province. 
The  alterations  in  the  number  of  members  of  the  House 
of  Assembly,  and  the  re-divisions  of  the  provinces  into 
electoral  divisions,  thus  effected  by  the  commissions  from 
time  to  time,  are  to  come  into  operation  "  at  the  next 
General  Election  held  after  the  completion  of  the  re-divi- 
sion, or  of  any  allocation  consequent  upon  such  alteration, 
and  not  earlier." 

In  order  to  complete  this  account  of  the  electoral  system 
of  the  Union,  the  following  brief  statement  of  the  quali- 
fications required  of  Parliamentary  electors  in  the  several 
provinces  must  be  added. 

In  the  Cape  province  every  adult  male  British  subject, 

140 


VOTERS'  QUALIFICATIONS 

whether  European  or  coloured,  is  entitled  to  be  registered 
as  an  elector,  provided  that : 

(1)  He  can  sign  his  name  and  write  his  address  and 
occupation  ; 

(2)  Has  for  not  less  than  twelve  months  occupied  pro- 
perty of  the  value  of  £75,  or  been  a  joint  occupier  of  pro- 
perty of  higher  value,  the  part  of  which  occupied  by  him 
has  been  of  the  value  of  £75 ;  or, 

(3)  Been  in  receipt  of  wages,  or  of  a  salary,  of  not 
less  than  £50  per  annum,  with  no  interval  of  more  than 
one  month  between  successive  situations. 

In  the  province  of  Natal  every  adult  male  British  sub- 
ject is  entitled  to  be  registered  as  an  elector,  provided 
that: 

(1)  He  owns  immovable  property  of  the  value  of  £50, 
or  pays  an  annual  rent  in  respect  of  such  property  of  the 
value  of  £10  (whether  separately,  or  as  his  share  in  the 
case  of  a  joint  tenancy)  ;  or, 

(2)  Having  resided  for  three  years  in  the  province 
(or  colony)  earns  an  income  equal  to  £8  per  month,  or 
£96  per  year  ;  and 

(3)  Neither  belongs  to  a  class  placed  by  legislation 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  special  courts,  nor  is  subject  to 
special  laws  and  tribunals. 

Male  adult  natives  who  have  been  registered  in  the 
province  (or  colony)  for  twelve  years,  and  been  exempt 
from  the  operation  of  the  native  laws  and  regulations  for 
seven  years,  and  who  possess  either  of  the  two  property 
qualifications  (as  above),  may  petition  the  Governor- 
General  for  a  certificate,  the  possession  of  which  entitles 
them  to  be  registered  as  Parliamentary  electors. 

In  the  Transvaal  and  Free  State  provinces  all  adult 
male  European  British  subjects  are  entitled  to  the 
franchise,  provided  that : 

They  have  resided  for  not  less  than  six  months  in  the 
province  in  question,  either  immediately  before  the 

141 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

framing  of  the  register,  or  in  case  of  temporary 
absence  during  such  six  months  within  three  years  of 
this  date. 

It  should  be  added  that  in  all  four  provinces  persons 
who  have  recently  served  terms  of  imprisonment,  or  are 
subject  to  any  other  of  the  customary  disabilities,  are 
excluded  from  the  franchise.  Nor  can  any  officer  or 
private  of  the  Regular  Army  on  full  pay  obtain  the 
Union  franchise. 

The  electoral  system  thus  constituted,  although  it 
does  not  secure  the  absolute  equality  of  voting  power  as 
between  Dutch  and  British,  and  as  between  the  individual 
voters  in  the  various  constituencies,  which  would  have 
been  provided  by  the  system  of  proportional  representation 
(with  multi-member  constituencies  and  the  single  trans- 
ferable vote)  advocated  by  the  Transvaal  delegation  and 
originally  accepted  by  the  National  Convention,  is  none 
the  less  far  in  advance  of  the  system  in  operation  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  Such  gross  violations  of  the  principle 
of  equal  rights  as  the  spectacle  of  1,500  electors  in  an 
Irish  constituency  (Kilkenny  City),  and  35,000  electors 
in  an  English  constituency  (Walthamstow),  both  return- 
ing one  member  to  the  House  of  Commons,  are  rendered 
impossible  by  the  provisions  for  the  numerical  equality 
of  the  constituencies  on  a  voters'  basis,  and  for  the 
quinquennial  redistribution  of  seats.  Although  the 
higher  principle  of  "  equal  rights  for  all  civilised  men  " 
has  yet  to  be  adopted,  the  principle  of  "  equal  rights  for 
all  Europeans,  whether  Dutch  or  British  " — which  only 
fifteen  years  ago  seemed  an  unattainable  ideal — is  now 
securely  established. 

Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  must  have 
the  same  qualifications  as  senators,  except  that  they  are 
not  required  to  hold  immovable  property  or  to  be  thirty 
years  of  age.  The  provisions  for  the  election  of  a  Speaker, 
his  resignation  or  removal  from  office,  for  the  resignation 

142 


THE  ROYAL  ASSENT 

of  members,  and  the  like,  present  no  unusual  features. 
Among  the  ordinary  disqualifications  such  as  a  dis- 
honouring sentence,  or  bankruptcy,  which  prevent  any 
person  from  becoming,  or  remaining,  a  senator  or  member 
of  the  Assembly,  it  is  noticeable,  however,  that 
the  disqualification  of  "  the  holding  of  any  office 
of  profit  under  the  Crown  within  the  Union  " 
does  not  apply  to  the  following :  a  Minister  of 
State  of  the  Union ;  a  person  in  receipt  of  a 
pension  from  the  Crown  ;  or  an  officer  or  member  of 
His  Majesty's  naval  or  military  forces  on  retired  or  half 
pay,  or  an  officer  or  member  of  the  naval  or  military 
forces  of  the  Union  whose  services  are  not  wholly  employed 
by  the  Union.  Thirty  members  constitute  a  quorum  in 
the  Assembly,  and  the  Speaker,  like  the  President  of  the 
Senate,  has  a  casting  vote  but  does  not  otherwise  take 
part  in  a  division.  Each  House  of  Parliament  has  power 
to  make  rules  and  orders  for  the  conduct  of  its  business 
and  proceedings  ;  but  in  the  event  of  a  joint  sitting  of  the 
two  Houses,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  pre- 
sides, and  the  rules  of  the  Assembly,  so  far  as  practicable, 
are  to  be  followed. 

The  Parliament  of  the  Union  has  full  power  to  legislate 
(subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Act)  for  the  peace,  order 
and  good  government  of  the  Union  ;  but  the  King  is  a 
part  of  the  Union  Parliament,  and  the  power  of  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  to  legislate  is  limited,  therefore,  by 
the  necessity  of  obtaining  the  King's  assent  to  all  bills 
before  they  can  become  law.  For  this  purpose  bills  are 
presented  to  the  Governor-General,  as  the  King's 
representative,  and  the  provisions  dealing  with  this  part 
of  his  duties  are  clear  and  precise. 

When  a  bill  is  presented  to  him  for  the  Bang's  assent, 
the  Governor-General  (not  the  Governor-General  in 
Council)  "  shall  declare  according  to  his  discretion,  but 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  and  to  such 

143 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

instructions  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  given  in  that 
behalf  by  the  King,  that  he  assents  in  the  King's  name, 
or  that  he  withholds  assent,  or  that  he  reserves  the  Bill 
for  the  signification  of  the  King's  pleasure." 

All  bills  must  be  "  reserved  "  which  deal  with  the 
matters  following  : 

(a)  The  repeal  or  amendment  of  the  section  relating 
to  the  royal  assent    (§  64),  or  of  the  provisions  relating 
to  the  electoral  system  and  the  House  of  Representatives 
(§§  32  to  50). 

(b)  The  abolition  of  the  Provincial  Councils,  or  the 
abridgment  of  their  powers  (except  as  provided  in  the 
Act). 

In  order  to  prevent  unnecessary  friction  between 
the  Imperial  and  the  Union  Governments,  the  Governor- 
General  has  power  to  return  a  bill,  thus  presented  for  the 
King's  assent,  to  the  House  in  which  it  originated  ;  and 
in  doing  so,  he  may  transmit  with  it  any  amendments 
which  he  may  recommend,  and  the  House  may  deal  with 
the  recommendation. 

A  bill  which  is  reserved  for  the  King's  pleasure,  has 
no  force,  unless,  and  until,  the  Governor-General  has 
signified  that  the  King's  assent  has  been  given  to  it  at 
some  time  within  a  year  of  the  date  on  which  the  bill 
was  presented. 

Under  the  Act  the  equality  of  the  English  and  Dutch 
languages  as  official  languages  of  the  Union  is  established  ; 
and  all  records,  etc.,  of  Parliament  are  to  be  kept,  and  all 
public  notices  to  be  issued,  in  both  languages.  So  soon 
as  any  law  has  received  the  King's  assent,  "  the  clerk  of 
the  House  of  Assembly  shall  cause  two  fair  copies  of  such 
law,  one  being  in  the  English  and  the  other  in  the  Dutch 
language  (one  of  which  copies  shall  be  signed  by  the 
Governor-General),  to  be  enrolled  of  record  in  the  office 
of  the  Registrar  of  the  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  South  Africa." 

144 


MONEY   BILLS,   ETC. 

MONEY  BILLS  AND  THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE 
Two   HOUSES 

On  the  two  important  subjects  of  Money  Bills  and 
Disagreements  between  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament 
careful  provision  is  made  in  the  Act.  In  respect  of  the 
former,  it  is  declared  in  Section  60  that  the  Senate  may 
reject  but  not  amend  Money  Bills.  The  words  of  the 
Act  are  : 

(1)  Bills  appropriating  revenue  or  moneys  or  imposing  taxation 
shall  originate  only  in  the  House  of  Assembly  .... 

(2)  The  Senate  may  not  amend  any  Bills  so  far  as  they  impose 
taxation  or  appropriate  revenue  or  moneys  for  the  services  of 
the  Government. 

(3)  The  Senate  may  not  amend  any  Bill  so  as  to  increase  any 
proposed  charges  or  burden  on  the  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  "  tacking  "  is  prevented  by  the 
limiting  clause  in  sub-section  (1)  (which  immediately 
follows  the  words  quoted  above)  : 

But  a  Bill  shall  not  be  taken  to  appropriate  revenue  or  moneys, 
or  to  impose  taxation  by  reason  only  of  its  containing  provisions 
for  the  imposition  or  appropriation  of  fines  or  other  pecuniary 
penalties. 

And  by  Section  61  : 

Any  Bill  which  appropriates  revenue  or  moneys  for  the  ordinary 
annual  services  of  the  Government  shall  deal  only  with  such 
appropriation . 

Also,  under  Section  62  the  approval  of  the  Governor- 
General  (not  the  Governor-General  in  Council)  is  required 
before  any  money  vote  can  be  taken  in  the  House  of 
Assembly  : 

The  House  of  Assembly  shall  not  originate  or  pass  any  vote, 
resolution,  address,  or  Bill  for  the  appropriation  of  any  part  of 
the  public  revenue  or  of  any  tax  or  impost  to  any  purpose,  unless 
such  appropriation  has  been  recommended  by  message  from  the 
Governor-General  during  the  Session  in  which  such  vote, 
resolution,  address,  or  Bill  is  proposed. 

Disagreements   between   the    two   Houses   are   to   be 

145 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

settled  by  a  joint  sitting ;  and  the  procedure  to  be 
followed  in  this  event  is  laid  down  in  Section  63. 

If  the  Senate  rejects,  or  fails  to  pass,  "  any  bill  dealing 
with  the  appropriation  of  revenue  or  moneys  for  the 
public  service,"  the  joint  sitting  of  the  two  Houses  may  be 
convened  by  the  Governor-General  during  the  same 
session  ;  but  in  the  case  of  other  bills  the  joint  sitting 
is  to  be  held  in  the  second  of  two  successive  sessions  in 
which  the  Houses  have  failed  to  agree. 

The  section  runs  : 

If  the  House  of  Assembly  passes  any  Bill  and  the  Senate 
rejects  or  fails  to  pass  it,  or  passes  it  with  amendments  to  which 
the  House  of  Assembly  will  not  agree,  and  if  the  House  of 
Assembly  in  the  next  session  again  passes  the  Bill  with  or  with- 
out any  amendments  which  have  been  made  or  agreed  to  by  the 
Senate,  and  the  Senate  rejects  or  fails  to  pass  it  or  passes  it  with 
amendments  to  which  the  House  of  Assembly  will  not  agree,  the 
Governor-General  may  during  that  Session  convene  a  joint 
sitting  of  the  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Assembly. 
The  members  present  at  any  such  joint  sitting  may  deliberate, 
and  shall  vote  together  upon  the  Bill  as  last  proposed  by  the 
House  of  Assembly  and  upon  amendments,  if  any,  which  have 
been  made  therein  by  one  House  of  Parliament  and  not  agreed 
to  by  the  other  ;  and  any  such  amendments  which  are  affirmed 
by  a  majority  of  the  total  number  of  members  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Assembly  present  at  such  sitting  shall  be  taken  to  have 
been  carried,  and  if  the  Bill  with  the  amendments,  if  any,  is 
affirmed  by  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Assembly  present  at  such  sitting,  it  shall  be  taken  to  have 
been  duly  passed  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament :  Provided  that 
if  the  Senate  shall  reject  or  fail  to  pass  any  Bill  dealing  with  the 
appropriation  of  revenue  or  moneys  for  the  public  service,  such 
joint  sitting  may  be  convened  during  the  same  session  in  which 
the  Senate  so  rejects  or  fails  to  pass  such  Bill. 

Each  senator  and  member  of  the  House  of  Assembly, 
with  the  exception  of  ministers  receiving  salaries  under 
the  Crown,  the  President  of  the  Senate,  and  the  Speaker 
of  the  Assembly,  receives  an  allowance  of  £400  per  annum  ; 
from  which,  however,  a  sum  of  £3  is  deducted  for  every 
day  of  the  session  upon  which  he  is  absent. 


146 


CHAPTER    II 

THE   PROVINCIAL  ADMINISTRATIONS 

OF  the  four  provinces  of  the  Union  the  Cape  is  the  oldest, 
largest,  and  most  populous  ;  but  the  Transvaal  contains 
the  Rand,  the  great  industrial  centre  of  South  Africa, 
where  the  most  rapid  increase  of  European  population 
has  taken  place  in  recent  years.  In  the  Free  State  and 
Natal  the  European  population  is  relatively  small.  In 
the  case  of  the  former  province,  this  is  to  be  attributed 
to  the  circumstance  that  its  industries  are  mainly  agri- 
cultural and  pastoral ;  while  in  the  case  of  Natal,  it 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  retail  trade  has  passed  largely 
into  the  hands  of  the  British  Indians,  who  were  permitted 
to  settle  there  as  permanent  residents  prior  to  the  Union. 

While,  as  we  have  seen,  under  the  Union  constitution 
all  matters  of  national,  or  general,  concern  are  placed 
in  the  control  of  the  Central  Government,  each  province 
is  provided  with  a  separate  administration  for  the  man- 
agement of  its  local,  or  special,  affairs.  The  Provincial 
Administrations,  as  constituted  by  the  Union  Act,  are 
composed  in  each  case  of  an  Administrator,  an  elective 
Council,  and  an  Executive  Committee. 

The  Administrator  is  appointed  by  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council ;  that  is,  by  the  Union  Government 
for  the  time  being.  His  appointment  runs  for  five 
years,  and  he  cannot  be  removed  from  his  office  except 
by  the  same  authority,  and  then  only  "  for  cause  assigned," 
which  must  be  at  once  communicated  to  both  Houses 
of  Parliament.  The  salaries  of  the  Provincial  Adminis- 
trators are  fixed  and  provided  by  Parliament,  and 
cannot  be  reduced  during  their  respective  terms  of  office. 
In  each  province  the  Administrator  is  chairman  of  the 

147 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Executive  Committee,  in  which  he  has  a  casting  as  well 
as  an  original  vote  ;  and  if  he  is  not  a  member  of  the 
Provincial  Council,  he  is  entitled  to  take  part  in  its  pro- 
ceedings, though  he  may  not  vote  in  any  division.  He 
convenes  and  prorogues  the  Provincial  Council,  and 
all  executive  acts  relative  to  the  affairs  of  the  province 
are  done  in  his  name.  Just  as  the  Governor-General 
of  the  Union  acts  in  certain  matters  under  the  instructions 
of  the  Imperial  Government,  and  in  independence  of 
the  Union  Ministry,  so  the  administrator  of  a  province 
has  power  under  the  constitution  to  act  on  behalf  of  the 
Governor-General  in  Council  (that  is,  the  Union  Govern- 
ment) in  all  matters  outside  the  sphere  of  the  provincial 
council,  when  required  to  do  so,  without  reference  to  the 
other  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  province. 
The  Provincial  Councils  consist  of  the  same  number  of 
members  as  are  elected  in  the  respective  provinces  for  the 
House  of  Assembly  ;  and  the  councillors  are  elected  by 
the  parliamentary  voters  in  the  parliamentary  con- 
stituencies of  the  Union.  As,  however,  no  Provincial 
Council  can  consist  of  less  than  twenty-five  members,  in 
the  case  of  the  two  lesser  provinces  of  Natal  and  the 
Free  State  it  has  been  necessary  for  the  present  to  form 
separate  and  more  numerous  Provincial  Council  con- 
stituencies, which  are  delimited  by  the  commissions 
provided  for  the  division,  and  re-division,  of  the  par- 
liamentary constituencies.  The  Provincial  Councillors 
are  elected  for  three  years,  and  the  council  is  not  subject 
to  dissolution  except  by  efHuxion  of  time.  Any  person 
who  is  entitled  to  the  Union,  and  therefore  to  the  Pro- 
vincial, franchise  is  qualified  to  be  a  councillor  ;  and 
the  provisions  for  the  conduct  of  elections,  the  dis- 
qualification of  councillors,  etc.,  are  mutatis  mutandis 
those  which  are  laid  down  in  the  Act  in  respect  of  members 
of  the  House  of  Assembly.  Any  councillor,  however, 
who  becomes  a  member  of  either  House  of  Parliament 

148 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEES 

thereby  ceases  to  be  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Council. 
The  dates  of  the  elections,  and  the  times  of  the  sessions 
of  the  council,  which  must  meet  once  at  least  in  each  year, 
are  fixed  by  proclamation  of  the  Administrator.  In 
each  council  a  chairman  is  elected  from  among  the 
councillors,  and  rules  for  the  conduct  of  business,  which 
are  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Governor-General  in 
Council,  are  framed.  Members  of  the  Provincial  Councils 
enjoy  the  same  privileges  of  free  speech  as  members  of 
Parliament,  and  no  councillor  is  liable  to  any  action  or 
proceeding  in  any  court  by  reason  of  his  speech  or  vote 
in  the  council.  They  are  also  paid  allowances,  the  amount 
of  which  is  determined,  however,  not  by  the  council, 
but  by  the  Governor-General  in  Council. 

The  Executive  Committees  consist  of  four  persons, 
elected  by  the  respective  Provincial  Councils  at  their 
first  meeting,  and  the  Administrator  as  chairman. 
The  members  of  the  committees  are  not  necessarily 
members  of  the  respective  councils,  but  if  they  are,  they 
retain  their  seats ;  on  the  other  hand,  any  member 
of  an  Executive  Committee  who  is  not  a  member  of  the 
council  of  his  province,  has  the  right  to  take  part  in  the 
proceedings,  but  not  to  vote,  in  the  council.  The 
remuneration  of  the  members  of  the  Executive  Committees 
is  determined  by  the  respective  Provincial  Councils, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Governor-General  in 
Council;  and  it  is  noticeable  that  the  system  of  pro- 
portional representation  is  applied  to  the  election  of  these 
Executive  Committees,  as  well  as  to  the  election  of  senators. 

In  all  matters  in  respect  of  which  the  Provincial 
Councils  are  competent  to  make  ordinances,  the  Executive 
Committees  are  the  successors  of  the  Governors  and 
responsible  ministries  of  the  former  colonies ;  and  all 
"  powers,  authorities  and  functions  "  relative  to  such 
matters,  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  Colonial  Govern- 
ments, are  now  vested  in  the  respective  committees. 

149 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

It  is  the  business  of  the  Executive  Committee  in  each 
province  "  to  carry  on  the  administration  of  provincial 
affairs  on  behalf  of  the  Provincial  Council,"  and  it  is 
empowered  to  appoint  officers  lo  carry  out  the  services 
for  which  it  is  responsible,  and  to  make  and  enforce 
regulations  for  the  organisation  and  discipline  of  the 
Provincial  Civil  Service,  as  distinct  from  the  "  officers 
assigned  to  the  province  by  the  Governor-General  in 
Council/'  Such  appointments,  however,  are  subject 
to  the  provisions  of  any  law  passed  by  the  Union  Par- 
liament for  regulating  the  conditions  of  appointment, 
tenure  of  office,  retirement  and  superannuation  of  Civil 
Servants. 

The  matters  in  respect  of  which  the  Provincial  Councils 
are  competent  to  legislate  (by  ordinance) — matters 
which  collectively  indicate  the  administrative  sphere 
of  the  Executive  Committees — are  stated  in  the  Act 
to  be  as  follows  : 

(1)  Direct  taxation  within  the  province,  in  order  to  raise  a 
revenue  for  provincial  purposes  : 

(2)  The  borrowing  of  money  on  the  sole  credit  of  the  province 
with  the  consent  of  the  Governor-General  in  Council,   and  in 
accordance  with  regulations  to  be  framed  by  Parliament : 

(3)  Education,  other  than  higher  education,  for  a  period  of 
five  years  and  thereafter  until  Parliament  otherwise  provides  : 

(4)  Agriculture  to  the  extent  and  subject  to  the  conditions  to 
be  defined  by  Parliament : 

(5)  The    establishment,    maintenance,    and    management    of 
hospitals  and  charitable  institutions. 

(6)  Municipal  institutions,  divisional  councils,  and  other  local 
institutions  of  a  similar  nature  : 

(7)  Local  works  and  undertakings  within  the  Province,  other 
than  railways  and  harbours  and  other  than  such  works  as  extend 
beyond  the  borders  of  the  province,  and  subject  to  the  power  of 
Parliament  to  declare  any  work  a  national  work,  and  to  provide 
for  its  construction  by  arrangement  with  the  provincial  council 
or  otherwise  : 

(8)  Roads,  outspans,  ponts,  and  bridges,  other  than  bridges 
connecting  two  provinces  : 

(9)  ^Markets  and  pounds  : 

(10)  Fish  and  game  preservation  : 

150 


POWERS  OF  COUNCILS 

(11)  The  imposition  of  punishment  by  fine,  penalty,  or  imprison- 
ment for  enforcing  any  law  or  any  ordinance  of  the  province 
made  in  relation  to  any  matter  coming  within  any  of  the  classes 
of  subjects  enumerated  in  this  Section  [85]  : 

(12)  Generally  all  matters  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council,  are  of  a  merely  local  or  private  nature  in  the 
province : 

(13)  All  other  subjects  in  respect  of  which  Parliament  shall 
by  any  law  delegate  the  power  of  making  ordinances  to  the 
provincial  council. 

In  addition  to  these  matters,  the  report  work  in  Private 
Bill  Legislation  has  been  handed  over  to  a  large  extent 
to  the  Provincial  Councils  with  the  object  of  economising 
the  time  and  labour  of  Parliament.  Under  Section  88 
of  the  Act,  the  Provincial  Council  of  the  province  to  which 
any  matter  proper  to  be  dealt  with  by  Private  Bill 
Legislation  relates,  may  take  evidence  by  select  committee 
or  otherwise  for  and  against  the  bill,  and  "  upon  receipt 
of  a  report  from  such  council,  together  with  the  evidence 
upon  which  it  is  founded,  Parliament  may  pass  such 
Act  without  further  evidence  being  taken  in  support 
thereof."  A  Provincial  Council  is  also  empowered  to 
recommend  to  Parliament  the  passing  of  any  law  relating 
to  any  matter  in  respect  of  which  it  is  not  competent 
to  legislate. 

All  ordinances  of  the  Provincial  Councils  require  the 
assent  of  the  Governor-General  in  Council  to  bring  them 
into  effect ;  and  any  ordinance  has  effect  in  the  province 
"  as  long  and  as  far  only  as  it  is  not  repugnant  to  any 
Act  of  Parliament."  The  Governor-General  in  Council 
may  assent,  withhold  assent,  or  "  reserve  for  further 
consideration "  an  ordinance ;  but  he  must  declare 
his  intention  to  take  one  or  other  of  these  three  courses 
within  one  month  of  the  presentation  of  the  ordinance 
by  the  Administrator.  Upon  his  assent  being  obtained 
the  ordinance  is  promulgated  by  the  Administrator  of  the 
Province,  and  two  copies  of  it — one  in  English  and  one  in 
Dutch — are  enrolled  in  the  Registrar's  office  of  the 

151 

It— (a  1 39) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court.  As  in  the  case 
of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  one  of  these  copies  must  be  signed 
by  the  Governor-General. 

The  services  for  which  the  provincial  administrations 
are  responsible  are  provided  for  by  ordinances  of  the 
councils  making  the  necessary  appropriations  from  the 
provincial  revenue  funds  constituted  in  each  province. 
No  appropriation,  however,  whether  general  or  specific, 
from  these  funds  can  be  made  by  any  council  without  a 
recommendation  of  the  Administrator  of  the  province  ; 
and  no  money  can  be  paid  out  of  them  except  in  accordance 
with  an  appropriation,  and  under  warrant  signed  by  the 
Administrator,  and  countersigned  by  the  auditor  of 
the  province.  The  revenue  fund  of  a  province  consists 
of  all  revenues  raised  by,  or  accruing  to,  the  pro- 
vincial Council,  and  all  moneys  paid  over  to  it  by  the 
Governor-General  in  Council  (whether  for  the  general 
purposes  of  the  provincial  administration,  or  for 
specific  objects). 

Careful  provision  is  made  to  secure  the  correct 
management  and  disposal  of  the  provincial  funds.  For 
this  purpose  the  Act  requires  that  there  shall  be  in  each 
province  an  auditor  of  accounts,  who  is  appointed  and 
paid  by  the  Governor-General  in  Council,  and  removable 
only  by  the  same  authority  for  "  cause  assigned,"  which 
must  be  communicated  at  once  to  both  Houses  of  Par- 
liament. It  is  the  duty  of  this  officer  to  examine  and 
audit  the  accounts  of  the  province  to  which  he  is  assigned, 
and  no  warrant  signed  by  the  administrator  authorising 
the  issue  of  money  from  the  provincial  fund  has  effect 
unless  it  is  countersigned  by  him,  as  auditor. 

The  seats  of  the  Provincial  Governments  are  the 
respective  capitals  of  the  former  colonies ;  Cape  Town, 
Maritzburg,  Pretoria  and  Bloemfontein. 

The  following  table  shows  the  area,  population, 
revenue  and  expenditure,  and  public  debts  of  the 

152 


AREA,  ETC.,  OF  PROVINCES 


four  constituent  colonies  at  the  time  of  the  establishment 
of  the  Union. 


Area  in 

Population  (1904). 

Revenue 
Expenditure 
(1908-9) 
in  millions. 

Public 
Debt 
(191:0). 

sq.  miles. 

European. 

Other  than 
European. 

Total. 

m.£. 

m.  £. 

m.£. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  .  . 

276,995 

579,741 

1,830,063 

2,409,804 

7'3 

7'6 

52'5 

Natal   

35,37i 

97,109 

1,011,645 

1,108,754 

3*5 

3'5 

22-8 

Transvaal 

110,426 

297,277 

972,674 

1,269,951 

5'7 

6*0 

32-3 

Orange  River  Colony 
(Free  State  Province) 

50,392 

142,679 

244,636 

387,315 

"9 

'9 

8-9 

Services    common  , 
to  Transvaal  and  I 

Orange  River        [• 

— 

— 

— 

— 

4*6 

2-9 

— 

Colony   (not   in-  1 

eluded  in  above)' 

Total 

473,562 

1,116,806 

4,059,018 

5,175,824 

22*2 

an 

xi6'7 

153 


CHAPTER    III 

FINANCIAL  AND   ADMINISTRATIVE   REORGANISATION 

AT  the  time  of  the  Union  the  combined  revenues  of  the 
four  constituent  colonies  amounted  to  rather  more  than 
£22,000,000,  and  their  combined  public  debts  were 
approximately  £116,000,000.  The  South  Africa  Act 
left  the  task  of  completing  the  administrative  machinery 
of  the  Union  to  be  accomplished  by  the  Central  Govern- 
ment which  it  brought  into  being.  But  both  the  neces- 
sary readjustments  themselves,  and  the  methods  and 
principles  to  be  followed  in  carrying  them  out,  were 
indicated  with  the  precision  required  to  give  effect  to 
the  agreements  on  the  various  questions  involved,  at 
which  the  representatives  of  the  four  colonies  had 
arrived  in  the  National  Convention  ;  and  due  provision 
was  made  for  carrying  on  the  government  in  the  period 
intervening  between  the  establishment  of  the  Union  and 
the  completion  of  its  administrative  system. 

In  considering  these  readjustments  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  great  material  advantage  which  the 
establishment  of  a  Central  Government  promised  to  the 
people  of  the  four  colonies,  was  the  large  reduction  of 
taxation  to  be  expected  from  the  economies  effected 
through  the  substitution  of  one,  for  four  administra- 
tive systems.  The  three  main  readjustments  were, 
accordingly,  changes  directly  planned  to  bring  about  the 
realisation  of  this  promised  advantage.  They  were  : 

(1)  The  gradual  elimination  of  the  hitherto  necessary, 
but  economically  bad,  practice  of  using  the  State  railways 
as  agencies  of  taxation. 

(2)  The  unification  of  the  Government  Departments 
and  Civil  Services  of  the  four  colonies. 

154 


RAILWAYS  AND   HARBOURS 

(3)  The  division  of  the  revenues  of  the  four  colonies 
other  than  their  railway  and  harbour  revenues,  as 
between  the  Union  Government  and  the  four  provincial 
administrations . 

The  first  of  these  administrative  processes  is  required 
by  the  Act  to  be  accomplished  within  four  years  from 
May  31st,  1910.  In  the  meantime  the  railways,  ports, 
and  harbours  were  placed  at  once  under  the  manage- 
ment of  a  Board  of  three  commissioners,  with  a  Minister 
of  the  Union  Government  as  Chairman,  and  all  revenues 
derived  from  these  sources  are  paid  into  a  separate  fund — 
the  Railway  and  Harbour  Fund.  During  the  gradual 
lowering  of  the  railway  rates  from  the  original  revenue- 
producing  standard  to  one  sufficient  to  make  the  earnings 
merely  cover  the  necessary  expenses  of  working  and 
maintenance,  the  Union  Government  is  empowered  by  the 
Act  to  draw  upon  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  Railway  and 
Harbour  Fund  to  the  extent  required  to  supplement 
the  Consolidated  Revenue  Fund  in  providing  for  the 
general  service  of  the  Union. 

The  provisions  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  great 
administrative  reform  are  an  integral  part  of  the  financial 
system  of  the  Union,  as  laid  down  in  the  constitution. 

All  revenues,  from  whatever  source  arising,  over  which  the 
several  colonies  have  at  the  establishment  of  the  Union  power 
of  appropriation,  shall  vest  in  the  Governor-General  in  Council. 
There  shall  be  formed  a  Railway  and  Harbour  Fund,  into  which 
shall  be  paid  all  revenues  raised  or  received  by  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council  from  the  administration  of  the  railways,  ports, 
and  harbours,  and  such  fund  shall  be  appropriated  by  Parliament 
to  the  purposes  of  the  railways,  ports,  and  harbours  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  this  Act.  There  shall  also  be  formed  a  Consoli- 
dated Revenue  Fund,  into  which  shall  be  paid  all  other  revenues 
raised  or  received  by  the  Governor- General  in  Council,  and  such 
fund  shall  be  appropriated  by  Parliament  for  the  purposes  of 
the  Union  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  this  Act,  and  subject  to 
the  charges  imposed  thereby.  (Sec.  117.) 

All  ports,  harbours,  and  railways  belonging  to  the 
several  colonies  are  vested  in  the  Governor-General  in 

155 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Council,  i.e.,  the  Union  Government ;  and  no  works  of 
the  sort  may  be  constructed  without  the  sanction  of 
Parliament.  (Sec.  125.) 

The  Commissioners  of  the  Railway  and  Harbour 
Board  are  appointed  by  the  Union  Government,  and 
receive  salaries,  fixed  by  Parliament,  which  may  not 
be  reduced  during  their  respective  terms  of  office.  The 
appointment  runs  for  five  years,  but  a  commissioner 
may  be  re-appointed.  No  commissioner  can  be  removed 
before  the  five  years  have  expired  except  by  the  Union 
Government ;  and  then  only  for  "  cause  assigned," 
the  particulars  of  which  must  be  communicated  at  once 
to  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  (Sec.  126.) 

The  independence  of  the  commissioners  being  thus 
secured,  the  Act  proceeds  to  state  the  broad  principles 
upon  which  the  future  administration  of  the  railways, 
ports,  and  harbours  of  the  Union  is  to  be  based. 

The  railways,  ports,  and  harbours  of  the  Union  shall  be 
administered  on  business  principles,  due  regard  being  had  to 
agricultural  and  industrial  development  within  the  Union,  and 
promotion,  by  means  of  cheap  transport,  of  the  settlement  of 
an  agricultural  and  industrial  population  in  the  inland  portions 
of  all  provinces  of  the  Union. 

So  far  as  may  be,  the  total  earnings  shall  be  not  more  than 
are  sufficient  to  meet  the  necessary  outlays  for  working,  main- 
tenance, betterment,  depreciation,  and  the  payment  of  interest 
due  on  capital  not  being  capital  contributed  out  of  railway  or 
harbour  revenue,  and  not  including  any  sums  payable  out  of  the 
Consolidated  Revenue  Fund  in  accordance  with  the  provisions 
[for  the  reimbursement  of  the  Railway  Fund  for  losses  due  to 
works  constructed  contrary  to  the  advice  of  the  Board,  and 
gratuitous,  or  partly  gratuitous,  services  or  facilities].  The 
amount  of  interest  due  on  such  capital  invested  shall  be  paid 
over  from  the  Railway  and  Harbour  Fund  into  the  Consolidated 
Revenue  Fund. 

The  Governor-General  in  Council  shall  give  effect  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  section  as  soon  as  and  at  such  time  as  the 
necessary  administrative  and  financial  arrangements  can  be 
made,  but  in  any  case  shall  give  full  effect  to  them  before  the 
expiration  of  four  years  from  the  establishment  of  the  Union. 
During  such  period  if  the  revenues  accruing  to  the  Consolidated 

156 


THE  CIVIL  SERVICE 

Revenue  Fund  are  insufficient  to  provide  for  the  general  service 
of  the  Union,  and  if  the  earnings  accruing  to  the  Railway  and 
Harbour  Fund  are  in  excess  of  the  outlays  specified  herein  [for 
working,  maintenance,  etc.],  Parliament  may  by  law  appropriate 
such  excess  or  any  part  thereof  towards  the  general  expenditure 
of  the  Union,  and  all  sums  so  appropriated  shall  be  paid  over  to 
the  Consolidated  Revenue  Fund.  (Sec.  127.) 

This  power  of  the  Union  Government  to  use  the 
railway  profits  for  the  present  to  supplement  the  regular 
revenue  is  not  to  be  allowed,  however,  to  interfere  with 
the  administration  of  the  railways  upon  the  enlightened 
principles  laid  down  in  the  section. 

Notwithstanding  anything  to  the  contrary  in  the  last  pre- 
ceding section,  the  Board  may  establish  a  fund  out  of  railway 
and  harbour  revenue  to  be  used  for  maintaining,  as  far  as  may 
be,  uniformity  of  rates,  notwithstanding  fluctuations  in  traffic. 
(Sec.  128.) 

And: 

All  balances  standing  to  the  credit  of  any  fund  established  in 
any  of  the  colonies  for  railway  or  harbour  purposes  at  the 
establishment  of  the  Union  shall  be  under  the  sole  control  and 
management  of  the  Board,  and  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been 
appropriated  by  Parliament  for  the  respective  purposes  for 
which  they  have  been  provided.  (Sec.  129.) 

(2)  The  provisions  for  the  unification  of  the  admin- 
istrative machinery  and  personnel  of  the  four  Colonies 
include  the  immediate  appointment  of  a  Public  Service 
Commission  "  to  make  recommendations  for  such 
reorganisation  and  readjustment  of  the  departments  of 
the  public  service  as  may  be  necessary,"  and  the  sub- 
sequent appointment  of  a  permanent  Public  Service 
Commission  "  with  such  powers  and  duties  relating  to 
the  appointment,  discipline,  retirement,  and  super- 
annuation of  public  officers  as  Parliament  shall  deter  mine." 
After  the  first  Commission  has  reported,  the  Union 
Government  are  to  assign  to  each  province  the  Civil 
Servants  necessary  for  the  proper  discharge  of  the  services 
reserved  or  delegated  to  the  provincial  administrations  ; 
and  these  Civil  Servants  thereupon  become  "  officers  of 

157 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  provinces."  Pending  the  report  of  the  Commission, 
the  necessary  officials  were  to  be  placed  by  the  Union 
Government  at  the  disposal  of  the  Provinces.  All 
services  and  departments,  with  their  personnel,  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  Railway  and  Harbour  Board, 
were,  however,  expressly  excluded  from  the  operation 
of  this  reorganisation  commission. 

The  Act  contains  provisions  intended  to  prevent  the 
readjustment  of  the  public  services  of  the  four  colonies 
from  injuriously  affecting  the  rights  of  individuals.  Any 
officer  being  in  the  public  service  of  any  of  the  colonies 
at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  but  neither 
retained  in  the  service  of  the  Union,  nor  assigned  to  that 
of  a  province,  is  to  receive  the  same  pension,  gratuity, 
etc.,  as  he  would  have  received  in  the  like  circumstances 
if  the  Union  had  not  been  established.  All  officers 
retained  in  the  Union  service,  or  assigned  to  the  provincial 
services,  are  secured  in  all  their  existing  and  accruing 
rights,  and  their  times  of  retirement,  pensions  and  allow- 
ances, are  not  to  be  affected  by  the  change.  It  is  also 
specifically  laid  down  that  no  official  in  the  service  of 
the  colonies  at  the  establishment  of  the  Union  was  to  be 
dismissed  "by  reason  of  his  want  of  knowledge  of  either 
the  English  or  Dutch  language."  A  special  provision  is 
made  for  permanent  officers  of  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  colonies.  Any  such  officer  who  is  neither  retained 
in  the  Union  service,  nor  provided  for  by  the  legislature 
of  his  province,  is  "  entitled  to  such  pension,  gratuity, 
or  compensation  as  Parliament  may  determine." 

At  the  time  of  writing  the  Reorganisation  Commission 
has  presented  several  reports,  to  which  some  reference 
will  be  made  in  subsequent  chapters ;  and  the  work 
of  reorganising  and  readjusting  the  various  departments 
of  the  Union  and  Provincial  administrations  is  well 
advanced.  The  process  has  given  rise  to  considerable 
dissatisfaction  among  Civil  Servants  whose  services  are  no 

158 


THE  PROVINCIAL  REVENUES 

longer  required.  This,  perhaps,  was  only  to  be  expected ; 
but  the  extent  of  the  economies  effected  would  appear 
also  to  be  disappointing.  Some  time  must  elapse, 
however,  before  any  reliable  conclusions  can  be  formed 
upon  these  questions. 

(3)  The  difficult  task  of  apportioning  the  revenues  of 
the  four  constituent  colonies  (other  than  those  derived 
from  railways  and  harbours)  as  between  the  Central 
Government  and  the  provincial  administrations  was 
entrusted  by  the  Act  to  a  Financial  Relations  Commission. 
This  important  body  was  appointed  as  soon  as  possible 
after  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  and  consisted 
(as  provided)  of  one  representative  from  each  province, 
with  an  officer  from  the  Imperial  Service  as  President. 
Pending  the  completion  of  the  work  of  the  commission, 
the  Union  Government  was  directed  to  pay  annually 
out  of  the  Consolidated  Revenue  Fund  to  the  administrator 
of  each  province  : 

(a)  An  amount  equal  to  the  sum  provided  in  the 
estimates  for  education,  other  than  higher  education, 
in  respect  of  the  financial  year,  1908-9,  as  voted  by  the 
Legislature  of  the  corresponding  colony  during  the  year 
1908; 

(6)  Such  further  sums  as  the  Governor-General  in 
Council  may  consider  necessary  for  the  due  performance 
of  the  services  and  duties  assigned  to  the  provinces 
respectively. 

The  members  of  the  Financial  Relations  Commission 
were  unable  to  arrive  at  a  unanimous  conclusion,  and 
presented  both  majority  and  minority  reports,  which 
were  laid  before  the  Union  Parliament  early  in  February, 
1912.  The  Majority  Report  was  signed  by  Sir  George 
Murray,1  the  Chairman,  and  by  Sir  Percival  Laurence 
and  Mr.  Patrick  Duncan,  the  respective  representatives 
of  the  Cape  and  Transvaal  provinces  ;  while  the  Minority 

1  Sir  George  Herbert  Murray,  P.C.,  G.C.B.,  I.S.O. 

159 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Report  contained  the  opinions  formed  by  Sir  Thomas 
Hyslop  and  Mr.  Wessels,  the  respective  representatives 
of  Natal  and  the  Free  State.  The  Majority  Report 
recommends  that  half  the  expenditure  actually  incurred 
by  the  provincial  administrations  should  be  provided  by 
"  block  grant "  from  the  Union  Government ;  and  the 
remaining  half  raised  by  direct  taxation  "imposed  and 
collected  "  by  the  several  administrations.  The  sources 
of  provincial  revenue  proposed  are :  (1)  School  fees 
(already  charged  in  the  Cape,  Natal,  and  Free  State 
provinces,  but  not  in  primary  schools  in  the 
Transvaal) ;  (2)  Hospital  fees  (including  one-half 
of  the  yield  of  the  Native  Pass  Fees  in  the 
Transvaal — about  £340,000 — which  formed  originally 
a  hospital  fund) ;  (3)  Licence  Duties ;  (4)  Transfer 
Duties  (on  fixed  property) ;  and  (5)  Rates  on  owners  and 
occupiers  of  fixed  property.  The  method  of  direct  taxa- 
tion suggested  is  that  adopted  in  the  Cape  Province, 
where  funds  for  educational  purposes  and  for  the  main- 
tenance of  roads  and  bridges  are  raised  by  the  School 
Boards  and  Divisional  Councils  ;  the  revenue  of  these 
authorities  being  derived  from  a  rate  on  the  capital 
value  of  all  property,  with  certain  exceptions,  within 
their  respective  areas.  The  extension  of  the  Cape 
system  to  the  remaining  provinces  of  the  Union  is  advocated 
on  two  grounds.  In  the  first  place,  it  would  promote 
economy  in  the  provincial  administrations,  since  each 
province  would  be  separately  responsible  for  the  provision 
of  funds  to  meet  half  of  the  provincial  expenditure  ;  and 
in  the  second,  the  Cape  would  be  relieved  of  the  injustice 
of  being  the  only  province  to  pay  local  taxes  over  and 
above  the  Union  taxes.  The  recommendation,  if  adopted, 
would  impose  no  fresh  burden  upon  the  Cape ;  but  the 
rates  on  fixed  property — assuming  the  Cape  system  to  be 
followed — required  in  the  Transvaal,  Natal  and  the  Free 
State  would  be  respectively  seven-sixteenths,  three-eighths, 

160 


FINANCIAL  ADJUSTMENTS 

and  less  than  one-eighth  of  a  penny  in  the  pound.  The 
effect  of  these  proposals  upon  the  Union  Budget  is  thus 
exhibited  in  the  Report : 

i 

The    Present    amount    of    Provincial    Subsidies 

(including  supplementary  grants)        ..          ..     3,297,133 
Future  subsidy  (one-half  of  above)          ..          ..      1,552,229 

Saving  1,744,904 

Revenue  surrendered  1,058,332 


686,572 
Compensation    to    Municipalities    in    Natal    on 

account  of  Licence  Duties  surrendered,  say,  15,000 


Net  saving  £671,572 


The  alternative  proposal  embodied  in  the  Minority 
Report  is  based  upon  the  opinion  that  the  whole  cost  of 
provincial  administration,  exclusive  of  the  revenue 
derived  from  school  fees,  hospital  fees,  licences  (including 
dog  tax),  and  pass  fees,  should  be  met  by  a  grant  from 
the  Union  Exchequer.  The  system  proposed  is  that 
adopted  in  Australia,  where  25s.  per  head  of  population 
is  paid  by  the  Commonwealth  Government  to  the  several 
State  Governments.  The  Minority  Report  recommends, 
therefore,  that  the  Union  Government  should  make  a 
grant  to  each  province  of  f\  per  head  of  European,  and 
4s.  per  head  of  Native  or  coloured  population. 

These  Reports  were  submitted  to  the  consideration  of 
a  conference  of  the  provincial  authorities  called  together 
by  the  Union  Government,  and  the  decision  of  this  latter 
was  announced  by  Mr.  Hull,  the  Union  Treasurer,  in  the 
course  of  his  Budget  speech  on  March  22nd,  1912.  The 
Majority  Report,  with  the  principle  of  rendering  the 
provinces  directly  liable  for  half  of  the  expenditure  of 
their  respective  provincial  administrations,  was  to  be 
adopted  ;  but  its  recommendations  were  to  be  modified 
in  certain  respects  calculated  to  satisfy  the  objections  to 

161 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

which  the  Minority  Report  gave  expression.  For  ten 
years,  therefore,  special  grants  of  £80,000  and  £67,000 
per  year  were  to  be  made  by  the  Union  Exchequer  to 
the  respective  administrations  of  the  Natal  and  Free 
State  provinces,  over  and  above  the  pound  for  pound 
grant ;  and  the  Natal  administration  was  also  to  have 
the  yield  of  the  Indian  Pass  Fees.  In  the  case  of  the 
Transvaal,  the  Union  Exchequer  was  to  retain  the  Totalis- 
ator  revenue,  but  to  surrender  not  half,  but  the  whole, 
of  the  Native  Pass  Fees  to  the  provincial  administration. 

Apart  from  these  three  conspicuous  administrative 
changes  of  system  and  personnel,  the  Act  provides  for 
certain  lesser  readjustments  the  guiding  principle  of  which 
is  in  each  case  laid  down. 

Ultimately  the  same  laws  are  to  run  throughout 
the  Union  in  respect  of  all  national  concerns  ;  but  while 
the  work  of  harmonising  the  various  laws  of  the  several 
colonies  is  in  progress,  the  laws  in  force  in  each  colony 
at  the  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  Union  are  to 
continue  in  force  in  the  respective  provinces.  In  other 
words,  the  people  of  the  provinces  remain  under  their  old 
laws,  until  these  latter  are  repealed  or  amended  by  the 
Union  Parliament,  or  by  the  Provincial  Councils  in  cases 
where  they  relate  to  matters  within  the  sphere  of  the 
Councils.  In  the  same  way  although  the  Act  declares 
that  "  there  shall  be  free  trade  throughout  the  Union," 
until  provision  is  made  by  the  Union  Parliament  to  give 
effect  to  this  declaration,  the  old  duties  of  custom  and 
excise  remain  leviable  in  the  several  provinces. 

There  were,  however,  two  departments  of  the  State 
in  respect  of  which  no  period  of  readjustment  was  con- 
templated by  the  Act — The  administration  of  justice, 
and  the  control  and  administration  of  native  affairs  and 
matters  affecting  Asiatics  within  the  Union.  The  national 
judicature,  which  the  constitution  brought  into  existence 
with  the  Union,  will  form  the  subject  of  the  following 

162 


NATIVES  AND  ASIATICS 

chapter.  Provision  for  the  immediate  devolution  upon 
the  Union  Government  of  the  affairs  comprised  in  the 
second  department  was  made  in  Section  147  of  the  Act, 
and  the  provincial  authorities  were  thus  at  once  relieved 
of  all  responsibility  in  respect  of  a  sphere  of  administration 
which  presents  many  difficulties .  The  section  is  important 
in  itself,  and  contains,  as  we  have  noticed  before,  the  one 
amendment  introduced  by  the  Imperial  Parliament  into 
the  Draft  Act  as  passed  by  the  South  African  Legislatures. * 
It  runs  : 

The  control  and  administration  of  native  affairs  and  of  matters 
specially  or  differentially  affecting  Asiatics  throughout  the  Union 
shall  vest  in  the  Governor-General  in  Council,  who  shall  exercise 
all  special  powers  in  regard  to  native  administration  hitherto 
vested  in  the  Governors  of  the  colonies  or  exercised  by  them  as 
supreme  chiefs,  and  any  lands  vested  in  the  Governor  or  Governor 
and  Executive  Council  of  any  colony  for  the  purpose  of  reserves 
for  native  locations  shall  vest  in  the  Governor-General  in  Council, 
who  shall  exercise  all  special  powers  in  relation  to  such  reserves 
as  may  hitherto  have  been  exerciseable  by  any  such  Governor  or 
Governor  and  Executive  Council,  and  no  lands  set  aside  for  the 
occupation  of  natives  which  cannot  at  the  establishment  of  the 
Union  be  alienated  except  by  an  Act  of  the  Colonial  Legislature 
shall  be  alienated  or  in  any  way  diverted  from  the  purposes  for 
which  they  are  set  apart  except  under  the  authority  of  an  Act 
of  Parliament. 

In  addition  to  the  financial  and  administrative  arrange- 
ments already  noticed,  the  Act  contains  provisions  under 
which  all  assets  and  all  liabilities  of  the  four  Colonial 
Governments  became  at  once  assets  and  liabilities  of  the 
Union  Government,  and  all  officers  in  the  public  service 
of  the  colonies  officers  of  the  Union.  Similarly  all  rights 
and  obligations  under  any  conventions  or  agreements 
binding  on  any  of  the  colonies  devolved  upon  the  Union ; 
and  in  particular  the  railway  agreement  made  on  the  eve 
of  the  Union  (Feb.  2nd,  1909)  between  the  Transvaal, 
Cape,  and  Natal  Governments,  under  which  Durban  was 
to  receive  30  per  cent.,  the  Cape  ports  not  less  than  15 

1  See  p.  128. 

163 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

per  cent.,  and  Delagoa  Bay  from  50  to  55  per  cent.,  of 
the  oversea  traffic  to  the  Rand,1  was,  "  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, to  be  given  effect  to  by  the  Government  of  the 
Union." 

The  Act  also  makes  provision  for  the  alteration  of  the 
original  provinces  of  the  Union,  and  for  the  admission 
into  the  Union  of  Rhodesia  and  of  the  native  territories 
at  present  administered  directly  by  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment. The  Parliament  of  the  Union  can  itself  carry  out 
the  first  of  these  changes  upon  the  petition  of  the  several 
provincial  councils  of  the  provinces  whose  boundaries  are 
affected.  The  admission  of  Rhodesia  and  the  transfer 
of  the  Native  Territories  may  be  effected  by  "  the  King, 
with  the  advice  of  the  Privy  Council,"  upon  the  pre- 
sentation of  addresses  from  the  Union  Parliament.  In 
the  case  of  Rhodesia  the  terms  and  conditions  (as  to 
representation  and  otherwise)  are  to  be  those  expressed 
in  the  addresses  and  approved  by  the  King  :  but  the  terms 
and  conditions  upon  which  the  Union  Government 
may  undertake  the  Government  of  any  Native  Territories 
which  the  Imperial  Government  may  decide  to  transfer 
to  the  Union,  are  already  laid  down  and  set  out  in  the 
Schedule  to  the  Act. 

The  Union  Parliament  has  a  general  power  to  repeal  or 
alter  the  constitution  as  set  out  in  the  South  Africa  Act 
(1909),  but  the  exercise  of  this  power  is  altogether  with- 
held in  respect  of  certain  provisions,  and  made  conditional 
in  respect  of  certain  other  provisions,  of  the  Act.  No 
provision  for  the  operation  of  which  a  definite  period  of 
time  is  prescribed  may  be  altered  or  repealed  until  the 
specified  period  has  elapsed.  Thus  no  alternation  can  be 
made  in  the  period,  viz.,  four  years,  within  which  the 

1  This  confirmed  the  change  in  the  Railway  provisions  of  the 
modus  vivendi,  or  agreement  between  the  Transvaal  and  Mozam- 
bique Governments  of  1901,  previously  arranged  between  the 
Transvaal  and  Mozambique  Governments. 

164 


CHANGES  IN  CONSTITUTION 

railways  must  be  converted  from  partial  agencies  of 
taxation  to  an  industrial  service  administered  by  the 
State.  The  following  sections  can  only  be  repealed  or 
altered  by  a  vote  of  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  total 
number  of  members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  in  a 
joint  sitting. 

(1)  Section    152,    dealing    with   the   amendment    or 
alteration  of  the  Act. 

(2)  Sections  33  and  34,  which  provide  for  the  number  of 
members  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  the  division  of 
seats  as  between  the  several  provinces. 

(3)  Section  35,  which  safeguards  the  Cape  coloured 
voters. 

(4)  Section  137,  establishing  the  equality  of  English 
and  Dutch  as  the  official  languages  of  the  Union. 


165 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SUPREME  COURT  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

FOR  some  time  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Union 
the  need  of  an  Appeal  Court  for  South  Africa  had  been 
recognised,  and  some  efforts  had  been  made  to  bring  it 
into  existence  by  agreement  between  the  several  South 
African  Governments.  What  was  wanted — and  wanted 
especially  by  the  business  community— was  a  court 
strong  enough  to  take  the  bulk  of  the  appeals  from  the 
Supreme  Courts  of  the  separate  colonies,  which,  in  the 
absence  of  such  an  institution,  had  to  be  decided  by  the 
lengthy  and  expensive  process  of  appeal  to  the  Judicial 
Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  in  England.  With  the 
establishment  of  the  Union  this  want  was  satisfied.  For 
while,  as  we  have  seen,  many  of  the  benefits  promised 
by  the  constitution,  and  notably  the  reduction  of  railway 
rates,  could  not  be  realised  until  sufficient  time  had 
elapsed  to  allow  the  necessary  administrative  readjust- 
ments to  be  completed,  the  people  of  the  four  provinces 
were  enabled  at  once  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  common 
judicature. 

The  sections  of  the  Act  which  deal  with  this  element 
of  the  Union  Constitution  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  a  Supreme  Court  of  South  Africa,  with  an  Appellate 
Division,  and  Provincial  and  Local  Divisions. 

The  Supreme  Court  consists  of  the  Chief  Justice, 1 
two  Judges  of  Appeal,  and  the  Judges  of  the  Provincial 
and  Local  Divisions. 

The  Court  of  Appeal,  or  Appellate  Division  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  is  composed  of  the  Chief  Justice,  the  two 

1  Lord  de  Villiers  (Sir  Henry  de  Villiers,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Cape  Colony,  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  de  Villiers)  was 
appointed  first  Chief  Justice  of  South  Africa. 

166 


COURT  OF  APPEAL 

ordinary  Judges  of  Appeal,  and  two  additional  Judges 
of  Appeal,  who  are  assigned  from  the  Provincial  or  Local 
Divisions  to  sit  on  the  Appellate  Bench  when  the  full 
court  of  five  is  required.  The  Appeal  Court  sits  at 
Bloemfontein,  but  may  sit  elsewhere  in  the  Union  to 
meet  the  convenience  of  suitors.  It  is  composed  of 
five  judges  of  the  Appellate  Division  in  the  case  of  appeals 
from  a  court  consisting  of  two  or  more  judges,  and  of 
three  judges  in  hearing  appeals  from  a  single  judge  ; 
and  no  judge  may  take  part  in  the  hearing  of  an  appeal 
against  a  judgment  given  in  a  case  heard  before  him. 
The  process  of  the  Appellate  Division  runs  throughout 
the  Union,  and  its  judgments  or  orders  are  executed  as 
though  they  were  original  judgments  or  orders  of  the 
respective  Provincial  Divisions  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  Provincial  Divisions  of  the  Supreme  Court 
respectively  correspond  to  the  several  supreme  Courts 
of  the  Cape,  Natal,  and  the  Transvaal,  and  the  High  Court 
of  the  Orange  River  Colony. 

*  The  Local  Divisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  correspond 
similarly  to  the  Court  of  the  Eastern  Districts  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  the  High  Court  of  Griqualand  (the  Diamond 
Fields),  the  High  Court  of  the  Witwatersrand,  and  the 
several  circuit  courts.  The  Provincial  and  Local  Divi- 
sions, designated  generically  as  "  Superior  Courts," 
have,  in  addition  to  the  original  jurisdiction  exercised 
in  each  case  by  the  corresponding  courts  of  the  colonies 
at  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  jurisdiction  in  all 
matters  : 

(a)  In  which  the  Government  of  the  Union,  or  a  person 
suing  or  being  sued  on  behalf  of  it,  is  a  party  : 

(b)  In  which  the  validity  of  any  provincial  ordinance 
shall  come  into  question. 

Further,  unless  and  until  Parliament  shall  otherwise 
provide,  the  Superior  Courts  have  mutatis  mutandis 
the  same  jurisdiction  in  matters  affecting  the  validity  of 

167 

12— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

elections  of  members  of  the  House  of  Assembly  and 
Provincial  Councils,  as  the  corresponding  courts  of  the 
colonies  had  at  the  establishment  of  the  Union  in  regard 
to  parliamentary  elections  in  such  colonies  respectively. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  Union  the  judges  of  the 
several  Supreme  Courts  of  the  Cape,  Natal,  and  the 
Transvaal  and  of  the  High  Court  of  the  Orange  River 
Colony,  became  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  South 
Africa,  and  were  assigned  to  its  divisions  in  the  respective 
provinces.  The  Chief  Justices  of  the  three  colonies 
with  Supreme  Courts  became  Judges-President  of  these 
divisions  in  their  respective  provinces,  but  retain  so  long 
as  they  hold  this  office  the  title  of  Chief  Justice  of  their 
respective  provinces. 

The  Chief  Justice  and  all  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
are  appointed  by  the  Union  Government ;  their  salaries 
are  fixed  and  provided  by  Parliament,  and  cannot  be 
reduced  during  their  continuance  in  office,  and  neither 
the  Chief  Justice  nor  any  judge  can  be  removed  except 
by  the  Union  Government  on  an  address  from  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  in  the  same  session,  praying  for  such 
removal  on  the  ground  of  misbehaviour  or  incapacity. 

The  Union  Parliament  has  power  to  reduce  the  number 
of  judges  in  the  event  of  a  vacancy  occurring  in  any 
division  other  than  the  Appellate  Division,  if  such  a 
reduction  is  to  the  public  advantage. 

Appeals  from  the  Superior  Courts  in  civil  cases  are 
taken  to  the  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
except  in  cases  of  orders  or  judgments  given  by  a  single 
judge,  upon  applications  by  way  of  motion  or  petition 
or  on  summons  for  provisional  sentence  or  judgments  as 
to  costs  only,  which  by  law  are  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
court.  Appeals  in  these  latter  cases  and  in  criminal  cases 
go  to  the  respective  Provincial  Divisions.  From  the 
judgment  of  a  Provincial  Division  given  on  appeal 
a  further  appeal  lies  to  the  Appellate  Division,  but 

168 


PRIVY  COUNCIL  APPEALS 

only    upon  special  leave  obtained  from  the  Appellate 
Division. 

Appeals  from  the  court  of  a  Resident  Magistrate  or 
any  other  Inferior  Court  in  both  civil  and  criminal  cases 
are  taken  to  the  respective  Divisions  of  the  Supreme  Court ; 
and  there  is  a  further  right  of  appeal,  but  only  upon 
special  leave  obtained,  to  the  Appellate  Division. 

There  is  an  appeal  to  the  Privy  Council  from  the  Appel- 
late Division  of  the  Supreme  Court,  if  special  leave  be 
obtained  from  the  Privy  Council ;  but  the  Union  Par- 
liament has  power  to  make  laws  limiting  the  matters  in 
respect  of  which  such  special  leave  may  be  asked.  Bills, 
however,  containing  any  such  limitation  are  reserved  by 
the  Governor-General  for  the  signification  of  His  Majesty's 
pleasure.  The  right  to  appeal  to  the  Privy  Council 
in  respect  of  judgments  given  by  the  Appellate  Division 
under,  or  in  virtue  of,  the  Colonial  Courts  of  Admiralty 
Act,  1890,  remains  unaffected  by  the  above  provisions. 

Civil  suits  may  be  transferred  from  one  Provincial  or 
Local  Division  to  another,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  there 
is  good  ground  for  such  transference  ;  and  such  suits 
are  proceeded  with  as  though  they  had  been  originally 
commenced  in  the  Divisions  to  which  they  are  respectively 
transferred. 

Advocates  and  attorneys  admitted  to  practise  in  any 
Superior  Court  of  any  of  the  colonies  at  the  establishment 
of  the  Union,  are  entitled  to  practise  in  the  corresponding 
Divisions  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  advocates  and 
attorneys  entitled  to  practise  before  any  Provincial 
Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  may  practise  before  the 
Appellate  Division.  The  laws  regulating  the  admission 
of  advocates  and  attorneys  to  practise  before  any  Superior 
Court  of  any  of  the  colonies  apply  mutatis  mutandis 
to  the  admission  of  advocates  and  attorneys  to  practise 
in  the  corresponding  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
South  Africa. 

169 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

To  sum  up  :  the  provision  made  for  the  administration 
of  justice  to  the  European  population  of  the  Union,  and 
to  that  part  of  its  native  and  coloured  population  which 
has  acquired  a  European  manner  of  life,  consists  of  : 

(1)  A  Court  of  Appeal  for  South  Africa  seated  at 
Bloemfontein, 

(2)  Provincial   Divisions    of   the    Supreme    Court    at 
Capetown,  Pretoria,  Maritzburg  and  Bloemfontein,  and 
Local   Divisions  in  the  three  chief  industrial  centres  ; 
the   Rand,   Kimberley,   and  the  eastern  districts  of  the 
Cape  Province, 

(3)  Circuit  Courts  held  by  the  Provincial  Divisions 
in  the  lesser  towns  of  the  four  provinces,  and 

(4)  The    Courts    held    by   the   Resident   Magistrates 
with  other  inferior  courts,  in  which  small  civil  causes 
and  police  cases  are  heard,  and  which,  roughly  speaking, 
perform  the  work  done  in  England  by  the  County  Courts, 
Petty  and  Quarter  Sessions,  and  the  Courts  of  Stipendiary 
Magistrates. 


170 


PART   III 

RHODESIA   &   THE    NATIVE 

TERRITORIES     OF     THE     HIGH 

COMMISSION 


CHAPTER    I 

RHODESIA 

RHODESIA  remains  for  the  present  outside  the  Union. 
As  we  have  seen,  however,  provision  for  its  future  admis- 
sion is  made  in  the  Constitution,  and  its  representatives 
took  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  National  Convention. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe,  therefore,  that,  when 
the  right  time  comes,  Rhodesia  will  unite  herself  to  the 
sister  states  of  South  Africa  ;  but  in  any  case  she  and  they 
are  so  closely  connected  economically  and  geographically, 
that  no  description  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa  can  be 
complete,  unless  it  includes  some  account  of  this  colony. 
And  the  same  remark  applies  to  the  three  Native  Terri- 
tories which  have  been  left  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  Imperial  Government,  and  which,  therefore, 
are  described  separately  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  Al- 
though not  as  yet  a  part  of  the  fcJnion,  they,  Rhodesia, 
and  the  Union  are  all  alike  members  of  the  South  Africa 
that  owes  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown. 

The  territories  of  the  Chartered  Company,  of  which 
Southern  Rhodesia  forms  the  most  important  portion, 
extend  over  an  area  of  439,575  square  miles,  and  are, 
therefore,  nearly  four  times  as  large  as  the  British  Isles. 
They  are  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Bechuanaland 
Protectorate  and  the  Union,  on  the  west  by  German  South- 
West  Africa,  on  the  east  by  Portuguese  East  Africa,  and 
on  the  north  by  the  Congo  State  and  German  East  Africa. 

171 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

This  great  inheritance,  wrested  from  barbarism  for  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  by  the  genius  of  Cecil  Rhodes,  has  been 
happily  described  by  a  French  observer  l  as  "  the  pick 
of  Central  Africa  on  both  sides  of  the  Zambezi."  Little 
more  than  twenty  years  ago — before  Mashonaland  was 
occupied  in  1890  by  the  Pioneer  Force  of  the  British  South 
Africa  Company — it  was  known  vaguely  to  a  few  intrepid 
explorers  and  a  handful  of  Big  Game  hunters.  Only  one 
or  two  white  men  had  gazed  upon  its  greatest  natural 
marvel,  the  Victoria  Falls  ;  and  its  present  principal  town 
was  the  kraal  of  the  savage  Matabele  chief,  Lobengula. 
To-day,  the  traveller  reaches  a  large  and  comfortable 
hotel  within  an  easy  walk  of  these  same  Falls,  by  a  journey 
from  Southampton  of  less  than  twenty-one  days,  during 
the  last  four  of  which  (Tuesday  to  Saturday)  the  Zambezi 
Express  has  carried  him  luxuriously,  and  without  a 
break,  from  Capetown  over  1,641  miles  of  railway.  From 
the  garden  of  the  Victoria  Falls  Hotel  he  looks  out  upon  a 
sight  scarcely  less  significant  than  the  clouds  of  spray 
that  mark  the  line  of  the  as  yet  unseen  cataracts.  It  is 
the  majestic  span  of  the  great  bridge  which  carries  the 
railway  over  the  Zambezi  on  its  way  to  the  present 
terminus  of  the  Cape-to-Cairo  transcontinental  line  in 
the  Congo  Free  State,  100  miles  beyond  the  northern 
border  of  Rhodesia.  To-day,  again,  three  miles  from  the 
European  town  of  Buluwayo  the  traveller  will  find  in  the 
beautiful  gardens  of  the  official  residence  of  the  Admin- 
istrator the  ancient  tree,  with  wide-spreading  twisted 
roots,  under  which  Lobengula  held  indabas, 2  and  bade  his 
impis  go  forth  to  rob  and  massacre  the  peaceful  Mashonas. 
These  strange  contrasts  tell  something  of  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  British  South  Africa  Company  is  develop- 
ing the  vast  territories  granted  to  it  by  the  Imperial 

1  M.    Lionel    Decle,    who   was   sent   to   Central   Africa  on  a 
scientific  mission  by  the  French  Government. 
*  Councils  of  lesser  chiefs. 

172 


THE   PIONEER  EXPEDITION 

Government.  None  the  less  Rhodesia  has  had  its  "  dark 
days  "  ;  and  we  must  glance  back  at  these  periods  of 
war  and  industrial  difficulty  before  we  consider  the 
country  as  it  is  now. 

The  actual  occupation  of  Mashonaland  was  accom- 
plished, in  1890,  by  a  Pioneer  Force  of  200  Europeans 
and  150  native  labourers,  and  a  Police  Force  of  500  men, 
"  without  the  loss  of  a  single  life,  and  without  the  necessity 
of  firing  a  shot."  Forts  with  intermediate  stations 
were  erected  at  Tuli,  Victoria,  Charter  and  Salisbury, 
and  garrisoned  by  the  Company's  police.  A  serviceable 
road,  400  miles  long,  was  constructed  by  the  Pioneers, 
who  then  dispersed  to  prospect  for  gold,  and  the  admin- 
istration of  the  infant  colony  of  some  1,000  Europeans 
was  assumed  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Colquhoun,  the  Company's 
first  Administrator.  The  time  occupied  in  the  process 
was  just  two  months  and  a  half — from  June  28th,  1890, 
when  the  expedition  left  its  camp  on  the  Macloutsie 
River  in  Bechuanaland,  to  September  12th,  when  the 
site  of  the  present  town  of  Salisbury  was  reached.  The 
cost  of  the  expedition,  exclusive  of  grants  of  land  and 
mineral  rights  to  the  Pioneer  settlers,  was  £89,285  10s.  Od. 
All  this  was  done  with  the  sanction  and  approval  of 
Lobengula,  who  was  supreme  chief  over  the  Matebele  and 
Mashona  peoples. 

A  year  later  the  European  settlers  were  in  great 
straits,  and  the  financial  outlook  of  the  Company 
looked  almost  hopeless.  The  1,500  settlers,  said 
Rhodes  in  his  speech  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Company  held  on  November  29th,  1892,  "went 
to  work  to  find  their  reefs,  but  they  were  removed 
1,700  miles  from  the  coast,  and  their  food  cost  them 
£70  a  ton."  It  was  at  this  time,  when  fever  was  prevalent 
owing  to  the  unusually  heavy  rains  of  the  season  1890-1, 
food  was  at  famine  prices  owing  to  the  enormous  cost  of 
carriage,  and  the  Company  was  spending  £250,000  a  year 

173 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

on  police  and  administration,  against  a  revenue  of  prac- 
tically nothing,  that  Dr.  (now  Sir  Starr)  Jameson  was 
persuaded  by  Rhodes  to  give  up  his  practice  at  Kimberley 
and  take  command  of  the  Settlement.  "  If  you  will  give 
me  £3,000  a  month,  I  can  pull  through,"  he  said,  when 
Rhodes  "  talked  matters  over  with  him." 

Dr.  Jameson  proved  equal  to  the  task.  The  costly 
police  force  was  cut  down  to  forty  men,  and  the  settlers 
themselves  undertook  the  military  duties  necessary  for 
their  security.  The  frontier  dispute  with  the  Portuguese 
had  been  settled  by  the  Imperial  Government,  and  the 
Company  was  on  the  most  friendly  terms  with  Lobengula. 
"  He  receives,"  said1  Rhodes,  "  a  globular  sum  of  £100 
a  month  in  sovereigns,  and  he  looks  forward  with  great 
satisfaction  to  the  day  when  he  will  receive  them.  I  have 
not  the  least  fear  of  any  trouble  in  the  future  from 
Lobengula." 

But  Rhodes  forgot  that  the  savage  associates  peace 
with  weakness.  Dr.  Jameson  pulled  the  settlers  and  the 
Company  through  ;  but  when  Lobengula  saw  that  the 
white  men,  in  going  about  their  business — prospecting 
for  minerals,  building  houses  and  making  roads — scru- 
pulously refrained  from  committing  any  act  of  violence 
or  injustice  against  himself  and  his  people,  he  drew  the 
conclusion,  inevitable  to  the  mind  of  the  military  Bantu, 
that  this  peaceful  disposition  was  the  result  of  fear.  On 
July  18th,  1903,  in  the  course  of  Lobengula's  annual  raid 
upon  the  Mashonas,  a  Matabele  impi  about  300  strong, 
a  detachment  of  a  much  larger  force,  entered  the  township 
of  Victoria,  and  when  ordered  by  Dr.  Jameson  to  retire, 
refused  to  leave  the  neighbourhood.  This  was  the 
commencement  of  the  Matabele  war.  A  year  later 
Rhodes  said  of  it :  "  We  either  had  to  have  that  war, 
or  leave  the  country.  I  do  not  blame  the  Matabele  : 
their  system  was  a  military  system  ;  they  once  a  year 

1  November  29th,  1892. 

174 


THE   MATABELE  WAR 

raided  the  surrounding  people,  and  such  a  system  was 
impossible  for  our  development." 

Two  columns  were  despatched  by  the  Chartered  Company 
from  Forts  Charter  and  Victoria,  so  soon  as  Dr.  Jameson 
had  been  authorised  by  the  High  Commissioner  "  to  take 
all  steps  he  considered  necessary  to  provide  for  the  safety 
of  the  lives  and  property  of  the  settlers  under  his  admin- 
istration." They  consisted  of  1,227  men,  of  whom  672 
were  Europeans,  and  joining  hands  at  Indaima's  Mount 
on  October  16th,  1903,  advanced  in  a  south-westerly 
direction  over  the  open  plateau  towards  Buluwayo. 
In  the  meantime  a  force  of  Bechuanaland  Border  Police, 
and  a  small  column  from  Tuli,  under  command  of  Major 
(now  Sir  Hamilton)  Goold- Adams,  co-operated  with  Dr. 
Jameson's  columns  by  advancing  from  the  South.  After 
hard  fighting  on  the  Shagani  river,  and  again  on  the 
Imbembezi,  when  they  successively  defeated  5,000  and 
7,000  Matabele,  the  Chartered  Company's  force,  led  by 
Major  P.  W.  Forbes,  and  accompanied  by  Major  Sir 
John  Willoughby,  the  Company's  senior  military  officer, 
and  Dr.  Jameson,  occupied  Buluwayo  on  the  4th  Novem- 
ber. A  month  later  Major  Alan  Wilson,  Captain  Borrow, 
and  thirty-three  others,  while  in  pursuit  of  Lobengula, 
were  surrounded  by  the  Matabele  in  overwhelming 
numbers,  and  met  their  death  in  the  heroic  manner  which 
is  fitly  commemorated  by  the  stately  monument  that 
stands  close  to  Rhodes'  grave  in  the  Matopos.  On 
December  22nd,  the  war  was  over.  Lobengula  had  per- 
ished, and  the  cruel  military  supremacy  exercised  by  the 
Matabele  over  the  Mashonas  had  come  to  an  end.  The 
Company's  columns  were  disbanded,  and  the  country 
was  thrown  open  for  prospecting  and  settlement.  The 
death  roll  of  the  Mashonaland  force  was  eighty,  of  whom 
forty-nine  were  Europeans  ;  and  forty-five  men,  of  whom 
twelve  were  Europeans,  had  been  wounded.  In  the 
Southern  Force  out  of  a  total  of  445  Europeans  four  men 

175 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

had  been  killed,  and  ten  wounded.  The  expenditure  on 
the  Matabele  war  appears  in  the  Company's  books  as 
£113,488  2s.  lid. 

These  rapid  and  successful  operations  put  the  Char- 
tered Company  in  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  central 
plateau  from  Bechuanaland  to  the  Zambezi ;  and  the 
work  of  industrial  and  administrative  development  pro- 
ceeded for  the  next  two  years  without  a  check.  The 
forts  and  settlements  had  been  linked  together  by  the 
telegraph  early  in  1892  ;  and  thus  the  infant  community 
had  been  placed  in  rapid  communication  with  the  rest  of 
South  Africa  and  England  from  the  first  moment  of  its 
existence. l  The  railway  was  driven  vigorously  northward 
from  the  Cape  Colony  by  Rhodes,  the  Managing  Director 
of  the  Chartered  Company  in  South  Africa,  who  knew 
well  that  no  great  progress  could  be  made,  until  the 
settlers  could  get  their  food,  mining  machinery,  and 
building  materials  of  all  kinds,  quickly  and  cheaply 
by  rail  from  the  ports.  Moreover  he  had  already  con- 
ceived the  magnificent  project  of  an  African  Trans- 
continental line,  that  should  unite  Capetown  with  Cairo — 
a  project  then  deemed  audacious,  but  now  on  the  eve  of 
realisation.  Rhodes,  then,  was  eager  to  furnish  the 
Company's  territory  with  railways  on  both  of  these 
grounds ;  but  the  railways,  like  the  development  of  the 
country  as  a  whole,  were  commercial  undertakings,  and 
the  interests  of  the  shareholders  had  to  be  considered. 
This  latter  necessity  made  the  advance  of  the  main  line 
from  the  Cape  Colony  at  first  comparatively  slow  ;  since 
a  line  carried  for  hundreds  of  miles  through  the  desert 
regions  of  Bechuanaland  could  not  be  expected  to  pay 
its  way,  still  less  to  earn  dividends,  for  some  time  to  come. 
None  the  less,  when  a  great  necessity  arose,  Rhodes 

1  The  telegraph  was  carried  from  Mafeking  to  Fort  Victoria  in 
December,  1891,  and  it  reached  Salisbury  (819  miles  from 
Mafeking)  in  February,  1892. 

176 


THE  CHARTERED   COMPANY 

used  his  own  private  resources  to  drive  the  iron  road 
through  to  Buluwayo. 

Before,  however,  recording  the  material  development 
achieved  up  to  the  end  of  1895,  it  will  be  convenient  to 
consider  for  a  moment  the  purposes  for  which  the  Char- 
tered Company  was  founded,  and  the  methods  by  which 
Rhodes  proposed,  in  his  own  words,  "  to  combine  the 
commercial  with  the  imaginative."  In  other  words, 
how  it  was  proposed  to  add  these  vast  regions  to  the 
British  Empire  without  the  cost  of  sixpence  to  the  British 
taxpayer,  and  at  the  same  time  to  give  the  shareholders 
of  the  Company  a  return  upon  the  capital  which  they  had 
subscribed  ? 

In  the  proposals  for  the  formation  of  the  British  South 
Africa  Company,  submitted  to  the  Imperial  Government 
on  April  30th,  1889,  the  objects  of  the  Company  were 
stated  to  be  : 

1.  To  extend  northward  the  railway  and  telegraph 
systems  in  the  direction  of  the  Zambezi : 

2.  To  encourage  emigration  and  colonisation  : 

3.  To  promote  trade  and  commerce  :  and 

4.  To  develop  and  work  mineral  and  other  concessions 
under  the   management  of  one  powerful  organisation, 
thereby  obviating  conflicts  and  complications  between  the 
various  interests  that  had  been  acquired  within  those 
regions,  and  leaving  to  the  native  chiefs  and  their  subjects 
the  rights  reserved  to  them  under  the  several  concessions. * 

The  petition  for  the  grant  of  a  Royal  Charter  was 
supported  by  the  plea,  that  the  undertaking  "  could  not 
be  considered  as  likely  to  be  remunerative  for  some 
time,"  and  that  "  the  sanction  and  moral  support "  of 
the  Imperial  Government  was  "  necessary  to  the  due 
fulfilment  "  of  the  objects  of  the  Company.  The  Charter 

1  Chief  among  these  was  Lobengula's  concession  (obtained  on 
October  30th,  1888,  by  Mr.  Rochfort  Maguire  and  two  others) 
of  the  right  to  work  minerals  within  his  territory. 

177 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

was  granted  on  October  29th,  1889 ;  and  within  twelve 
months  of  this  date  the  occupation  of  Mashonaland  was 
peacefully  accomplished. 

For  the  realisation  of  purposes  of  such  magnitude 
large  sums  of  money  were  necessary.  How  was  a  com- 
mercial return  on  the  capital  expenditure  to  be  obtained  ? 
Rhodes  himself  answered  this  question.  At  a  meeting 
of  the  shareholders  of  the  Company  held  on  January 
18th,  1905,  he  said  : 

I  have  once  said  before  that  out  of  licences  and  the  usual 
sources  of  revenue  for  a  government  you  cannot  expect  to  pay 
dividends.  The  people  would  get  annoyed  if  you  did  ;  they  do 
not  like  to  see  licences  spent  in  dividends — these  are  assets  which 
are  to  pay  for  any  public  works  and  for  good  government.  We 
must,  therefore,  look  to  our  minerals  to  give  us  a  return  on  our 
capital,  which,  you  must  remember,  is  £2,000,000. l 

In  the  earlier  speech  2  he  said  : 

My  experience  of  the  past  is  that,  just  as  qua  Government  so 
qua  a  Company  we  cannot  expect  to  do  more  than  balance 
revenue  and  expenditure  from  land,  customs,  and  assisting  in 
other  matters  connected  with  developing  the  general  natural 
resources  of  the  country.  Therefore,  when  we  created  the 
Charter,  we  had  to  consider  by  what  means  a  return  could  be 
given  to  the  shareholders,  and  I  remember  thinking  out  the 
various  ways  of  making  a  return  to  those  who  had  risked  their 
capital  in  the  undertaking.  It  has  always  struck  me  that  if  it 
were  possible  for  the  Government  of  a  country  to  share  in  the 
discovery  of  the  minerals,  a  very  fair  return  would  accrue.  For 
instance,  I  have  been  a  miner  at  Kimberley,  on  the  discovery  of 
the  Diamond  Fields,  and  I  was  allowed  to  mark  out  one  claim. 
It  has  always  struck  me  afterwards,  when  I  had  become  engaged 
in  the  politics  of  the  country,  that  if  I  had  been  allowed  to  mark 
out  five  claims,  no  one  would  have  been  hurt  if  I  had  pegged  out 
two  and  a  half  for  myself  and  two  and  a  half  for  the  Government. 
The  same  thought  had  occurred  to  me  when  I  went  up  to 
Witwatersrand  and  saw  that  marvellous  goldfield,  where  the 
terms  were  that  they  could  each  mark  out  one  claim.  It  had 
occurred  to  me  that,  supposing  the  law  had  been  that  each  of 
them  could  mark  out  ten  claims — five  for  themselves  and  five 

1  The  capital  stands  in  the  last  (March  31st,  1911)  balance 
sheet  at  £9,000,000. 

*  November  19th,  1892. 

178 


FINANCIAL  SYSTEM 

for  the  Government — it  would  not  hurt  the  prospectors,  and  it 
would  have  meant  wealth  to  the  Government  of  the  country. 
The  only  objection  to  the  idea  was  that  it  was  a  perfectly  new 
one.  At  any  rate,  we  thought  we  would  try  it  in  Mashonaland, 
and  it  was  the  law  of  the  Company  that  50  per  cent,  of  the 
vendor  scrip  went  to  the  Charter. 

Although  this  large  share  in  the  profits  of  the 
mines  to  which  the  Company  was  thus  originally 
entitled,  has  been  greatly  reduced,  the  principle 
here  laid  down  by  Rhodes  has  been  maintained. 
The  Company  has  appropriated  the  ordinary  revenue 
of  the  colony  to  the  purposes  of  administration, 
and  has  sought  to  find  a  return  for  the  shareholders' 
capital  in  the  profits  of  industrial  undertakings — notably 
the  construction  and  working  of  railways,  the  develop- 
ment and  sale  of  town  and  agricultural  lands,  and  royalties 
on  minerals — as  distinct  from  revenue.  In  this  way, 
by  rigidly  separating  the  function  of  government  from  its 
functions  as  a  great  commercial  enterprise,  the  Company, 
as  Rhodes  saw,  whatever  return  it  made  to  the  share- 
holders, great  or  little,  as  the  case  might  be,  would  avoid 
the  mistake  of  imposing  any  burdensome  or  unusual 
taxation  upon  the  settlers. 

The  faithfulness  with  which  the  directors  of  the  British 
South  Africa  Company  have  adhered  to  the  principle 
laid  down  by  Rhodes,  is  shown  by  the  circumstance  that, 
although  no  dividends  have  been  paid  as  yet,  it  is  only 
within  the  last  few  years  that  the  annual  revenue  of  South- 
ern Rhodesia,  the  most  advanced  portion  of  the  Com- 
pany's territories,  has  become  sufficient  to  defray  the 
annual  costs  of  administration.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Company,  as  a  commercial  undertaking,  will  benefit 
ultimately  by  the  prosperity  of  the  community  which 
it  has  brought  into  being.  Whether  it  retains  the 
function  of  government,  or  resigns  it  to  the  Imperial 
or  Union  authorities,  the  commercial  assets,  whose  value 
has  increased  in  proportion  as  the  colony  has  grown  in 

179 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

population  and  wealth,  will  remain  the  property  of  the 
shareholders.  It  is  from  these  commercial  assets,  thus 
enhanced  in  value,  that  a  return  should  be  obtained 
ultimately  upon  the  vast  sums  disbursed  by  the  Company 
in  the  administration  and  industrial  development  of 
Rhodesia.  And  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  when  the  settlers 
have  reached  this  stage  of  assured  prosperity,  the  share- 
holders of  the  Company,  who  have  borne  a  humble  but 
indispensable  part  in  the  making  of  the  country,  will  at 
length  receive  the  return  upon  their  capital  for  which 
they  have  waited  so  long  and  patiently. 

Rhodesia,  then,  like  the  Indian  Empire,  has  been 
founded  not  by  the  nation,  but  by  the  energy,  ability, 
and  monetary  resources  of  private  individuals.  Their 
primary  aim,  like  that  of  the  men  who  in  the  "  spacious 
times  "  of  Queen  Elizabeth  adventured  their  lives  and 
property  in  the  discovery  and  development  of  unknown 
lands,  was  to  secure  the  profits  to  be  gained  by  opening 
up  new  fields  for  industry  and  commerce  in  South-Central 
Africa.  In  the  pursuit  of  this  primary  aim  Rhodes  and 
Dr.  Jameson  were  interrupted  by  the  Matabele  war  ; 
but  the  event,  unexpected  and  unwelcome  at  the  moment, 
proved  in  the  end  to  be  as  salutary  as  it  was  necessary. 
Before  the  war  the  material  operations  preliminary  to 
the  establishment  of  fresh  settlements,  and  to  the 
industrial  development  of  the  country,  had  made  some 
progress,  and  directly  it  was  over  they  were  resumed 
with  increased  activity. 

The  first  necessity  was  the  provision  of  means  of 
communication  and  transport.  Telegraphic  com- 
munication, as  we  have  seen,  was  secured  for  the  Mashona- 
land  settlement  contemporaneously  with  the  occupation 
of  the  country  ;  and  one  of  Rhodes'  earliest  acts,  upon  the 
grant  of  the  Charter,  was  to  arrange  with  the  Cape 
Government,  in  which  he  was  then  Prime  Minister,  to 
allow  the  Company  to  carry  the  railway  northward  from 

180 


RAILWAY   CONSTRUCTION 

Kimberley  to  Vryburg  in  Bechuanaland,  on  the  under- 
standing that,  when  completed,  the  new  line  should  form 
a  part  of  the  Cape  Government  railways.  This  section, 
127  miles  long,  was  begun  in  November,  1889,  and 
opened  for  traffic  on  December  3rd,  1890.  The  second 
advance,  from  Vryburg  to  Mafeking,  a  distance  of  ninety- 
six  miles,  was  begun  early  in  1893  and  completed  on 
October  3rd,  1904 ;  Palapwe,  263  miles  from  Mafeking, 
was  reached  early  in  1897.  Over  the  229  miles  of  country 
which  still  separated  the  rail  head  from  Buluwayo — 
by  this  time  a  town  with  a  considerable  European  popu- 
lation— the  iron  road  was  carried  in  the  astonishingly 
short  time  of  five  months  ; 1  and  on  November  4th,  1897, 
the  fourth  anniversary  of  the  capture  of  Lobengula's 
chief  kraal,  the  first  train,  bringing  the  High  Com- 
missioner, Lord  (then  Sir  Alfred)  Milner,  to  perform  the 
opening  ceremony,  steamed  into  the  station  after  its 
run  of  1,360  miles  from  Capetown. 

In  the  meantime  a  second  line  of  railway  had  been 
built  to  give  Rhodesia  access  to  the  sea  at  Beira,  the 
Portuguese  port  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa.  The  first 
section  of  this  line,  running  for  seventy-five  miles  across 
the  Tsetse  Fly  belt, a  was  built  as  early  as  October,  1893  ; 
and  the  Portuguese  and  Rhodesian  frontier  was  reached 
three  years  later.  It  was  subsequently  extended  to 
Umtali  and  Salisbury,  and  it  has  for  some  years  past 
formed  a  part  of  the  considerable  system  of  the  Beira 
and  Mashonaland  Railway  Company,  which  to-day 
connects  Buluwayo,  Rhodesia,  and  South  Africa  in  general 
with  the  port  of  Beira. 

Apart  from  this  large  construction  of  railways  the  pro- 
gress, both  administrative  and  industrial,  which  was 

1  At  the  rate  of  687  miles  a  year. 

3  This  insect  being  fatal  to  horses  and  cattle  (although  it  does 
not  attack  human  beings)  had  made  transport  between  Beira 
and  Mashonaland  practically  impossible  prior  to  the  construction 
of  the  railway. 

181 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

made  in  the  two  years  following  the  Matabele  war,  was 
remarkable.  The  internal  communications  had  been 
greatly  improved  by  the  making  of  roads,  and  the  com- 
pletion of  the  telegraphic  and  postal  systems.  Among 
the  four  or  five  centres  of  European  population,  Buluwayo, 
the  youngest,  had  grown  most  rapidly.  In  less  than  a 
year  it  had  been  converted  from  the  kraal  of  a  savage 
chief  into  a  European  town  of  2,000  inhabitants,  with 
brick  buildings  and  two  weekly  newspapers  ;  while  in 
the  surrounding  country  there  was  a  considerable  popu- 
lation engaged  in  the  business  of  gold-mining.  At 
Salisbury,  Buluwayo,  and  other  towns  public  buildings 
had  been  erected,  and  all  the  administrative  machinery 
of  a  civilised  state  had  been  established,  and  was  running 
smoothly.  Apart  from  Matabeleland,  gold  mining  was 
in  progress  at  Salisbury,  Mazoe,  Umtali,  and  in  other 
districts  of  Mashonaland  ;  and  some  of  these  Mashonaland 
mines  had  begun  to  obtain  creditable  results  from  the 
crushing  mills.  The  advance  secured  by  the  end  of  1905, 
and  the  bright  prospects  of  the  immediate  future,  are 
vividly  reflected  in  Mr.  F.  C.  Selous'  account  of  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  which  he  found  in  Buluwayo  upon  his 
return  to  Rhodesia. 

"  In  short,  at  this  time/'  he  wrote, 1  "  everything  was 
apparently  couleur  de  rose  in  Matabeleland.  Properties, 
whether  farm  lands,  building  sites  in  town,  or  mining 
claims,  went  up  to  very  high  values,  whilst  almost  every- 
one believed  that  within  a  year  Buluwayo  would  contain 
a  population  of  5,000  souls,  and  that  the  town  itself 
would  receive  a  plentiful  supply  of  water  from  the 
reservoirs  already  in  course  of  construction,  and  be  lighted 
by  electric  light.  In  fact  all  was  mirth  and  joy  and  hope 
in  the  future  ;  for  what  was  to  hinder  the  ever-increasing 

1  Sunshine  and  Storm  in  Rhodesia.  Mr.  F.  C.  Selous,  the 
famous  hunter  of  big  game,  had  acted  as  guide  to  the  Pioneer 
Expedition  in  1890. 

182 


NATIVE  INSURRECTION 

prosperity  of  the  country  ?  Much  good  work  had  already 
been  done  on  many  of  the  reefs,  and  on  the  whole  the 
promise  was  distinctly  good.  Then,  again,  after  a  pro- 
bation of  eighteen  months,  the  country  had  been  pro- 
nounced favourably  upon  by  Dutch  and  Colonial  farmers, 
especially  for  cattle-ranching,  whilst  many  predicted  that 
much  of  the  high  veld  would  carry  sheep." 

Dr.  Jameson,  then,  in  the  three  years  of  his  admin- 
istration had  not  merely  "  pulled  through  "  ;  he  had 
largely  increased  the  resources  of  the  Company's  ter- 
ritories, and  brought  comfort  and  prosperity  within  reach 
of  the  settlers. 

In  the  next  year,  however,  the  brightness  of  this  pros- 
pect was  suddenly  darkened  by  the  clouds  of  disaster. 
The  Jameson  Raid  (December  29th,  1895 — January  2nd, 
1896)  not  only  disorganised  the  local  administration  and 
endangered  the  continued  existence  of  the  Chartered 
Company,  but  it  denuded  Rhodesia  of  the  white  police 
upon  whose  presence  and  efficiency  the  scattered  Euro- 
pean population  depended  for  protection  against  any 
hostile  movement  among  the  Bantu  masses.  The  insur- 
rection of  the  natives,  which,  commencing  on  March 
20th,  1906,  with  the  murderous  attacks  of  the  Matabele 
upon  the  settlers  living  in  isolated  homesteads  and  mining 
camps,  spread  afterwards  to  the  Mashonas,  was  not 
subdued  until  the  end  of  the  year.  The  originating  cause 
of  the  rising,  in  which  many  settlers  lost  their  lives,  and 
much  property  was  destroyed,  was  not,  in  all  probability, 
the  mere  absence  of  the  white  police,  but  the  visitation 
of  the  rinderpest,  or  Zambezi  cattle  fever,  in  itself  a 
disaster  of  sufficient  magnitude,  which  had  reached  the 
neighbourhood  of  Buluwayo  on  March  5th.  Upon  the 
appearance  of  this  terrible  scourge,  special  powers  were 
at  once  obtained  from  the  High  Commissioner,  and  in 
order  to  arrest  the  spread  of  the  disease,  a  wholesale 
destruction  of  the  cattle  belonging  to  the  natives  took 

183 

13— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

place  in  the  infected  districts.  How  necessary  this  was 
may  be  seen  from  the  sequel.  In  spite  of  the  vigorous 
enforcement  of  the  regulations  for  the  destruction  or 
isolation  of  affected  cattle  in  Rhodesia,  the  disease 
made  its  way  to  Palapwe  in  Bechuanaland  by  March 
llth  ;  and  although  £50,000  was  spent  in  the  Protectorate 
by  the  Imperial  Government  in  the  endeavour  to  arrest 
its  progress,  it  rapidly  overran  the  Cape  Colony  and 
Orange  Free  State.  After  the  construction  of  a  fence 
across  the  colony,  following  the  line  of  the  Orange  River 
and  guarded  by  mounted  police,  and  other  measures  had 
failed  to  protect  the  farmers,  the  Cape  Government,  as 
a  last  resource,  commissioned  Dr.  Koch,  the  German 
scientist,  to  visit  South  Africa  and  investigate  the 
disease,  in  the  hope  that  some  remedy  might  be  discovered 
Other  causes  contributed  to  make  the  natives  in  Rho- 
desia discontented  at  this  time.  For  some  of  these, 
such  as  the  apparent  confiscation  of  the  "  royal  "  cattle  1 
and  the  abuses  committed  by  the  native  police,  the 
Company's  administration  was  in  part  responsible  ;  but 
others  were  physical  disasters,  such  as  a  plague  of  locusts 
and  drought,  which,  like  the  outbreak  of  rinderpest, 
only  the  malice  of  the  "  witch-doctors  "  and  disaffected 
chiefs  could  attribute  to  the  presence  of  the  white  men  in 
the  country.  But  it  is  unlikely  that  all  these  causes 
combined  would  have  brought  the  natives  to  the  point 
of  open  rebellion,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  opportunity 

1  The  Company,  having  succeeded  by  right  of  conquest  to  the 
ownership  of  Lobengula's  cattle,  took  possession  of  a  part  only 
of  the  royal  herds,  and  having  branded  the  rest  (90,000  head) 
with  the  Company's  mark,  left  them  to  be  tended  and  pastured 
by  the  natives  as  before.  The  officials  then  called  up  these 
cattle  as  they  were  required  from  time  to  time.  The  natives, 
being  unable  to  distinguish  between  ownership  and  agistment, 
resented  the  process  as  being  a  confiscation  of  cattle  they  had 
come  to  regard  as  their  own  property.  Ultimately  the  Company 
took  two-fifths  of  all  the  royal  cattle,  and  gave  the  remaining 
three-fifths  (70,000)  head  to  the  natives  as  their  absolute  property. 

184 


CAUSES   OF   REBELLION 

presented  by  Dr.  Jameson's  withdrawal  of  so  large  a 
proportion  of  the  white  police. 

Mr.  Selous'  narrative  of  his  own  experience  affords 
significant  evidence  on  this  question,  and  is  in  other 
respects  valuable  ;  since  it  serves  to  emphasise  a  fact 
which  must  never  be  forgotten  by  the  statesmen  of 
South  Africa,  that  the  supremacy  of  the  white  man 
depends  in  the  last  resort  upon  force.  The  murder  of 
native  policemen  on  the  night  of  March  20th,  was, 
according  to  Mr.  Selous,  the  first  overt  act  of  rebellion 
on  the  part  of  the  Matabele.  Returning  to  his  homestead, 
Essex  Vale,  on  mid-day  of  March  24th,  he  found  that  some 
natives  from  a  neighbouring  village  had  been  over  to 
borrow  some  axes.  Settlers  were  accustomed  to  render 
such  small  services  to  their  native  neighbours,  and  the 
request  had,  therefore,  caused  no  surprise  to  Mrs.  Selous. 

"  After  sundown,"  he  continues, *  "  some  of  these 
same  men  brought  the  usual  evening's  milk,  and  my  wife 
and  I  chatted  with  them  for  some  time.  We  spoke 
about  the  recent  murders  on  the  Umzingwani,  and  the 
conduct  of  Umzobo  and  Umfondisi,  and  my  wife  asked 
me  to  say  that  she  thought  they  had  acted  very  foolishly, 
as  the  white  men  would  punish  them.  At  this  they  laughed, 
and  one  of  them  said  significantly,  '  How  can  the  white 
men  punish  them  ?  Where  are  the  white  police  ?  There 
are  none  left  in  the  country.' ' 

Mr.  Selous  tells  us  further  that,  apart  from  such 
isolated  acts  of  lawlessness  as  may  be  found  in  any  similar 
community,  young  or  old,  there  was  no  ill-treatment  of 
the  natives  by  the  white  settlers.  In  his  own  case,  he 
and  his  wife  had  lived  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the 
natives  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood ;  but  he 
cannot  attribute  his — and  her — escape  to  this  circum- 
stance. "  Why  no  attempt  was  made  to  murder  us  on 
that  Tuesday,"  he  writes,  "  will  always  remain  a  mystery 

1  Sunshine  and  Storm  in  Rhodesia. 

185 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

to  me."  The  assumption  that  he  had  just  returned 
from  summoning  assistance,  was,  he  believes,  the  real 
reason  that  made  them  stay  their  hands.  That  they  were 
not  by  any  means  well-disposed  was  shown  by  the  fact 
that  they  went  off  that  night  with  the  cattle  placed  under 
their  charge,  and  probably  assisted  in  the  murder  of 
Messrs.  Foster,  Eagleson,  and  Anderson. 

Thus  again  in  1896,  as  before  in  1893,  the  settlers  in 
Rhodesia,  like  every  other  European  community  in  South 
Africa,  were  compelled  to  demonstrate  their  superiority 
to  the  natives  by  force  of  arms.  Thanks  to  the  swift 
messages  of  the  telegraph,  assistance  was  promptly 
rendered  by  the  Imperial  authorities  from  Mafeking — 
600  miles  from  Buluwayo,  but  at  the  time  the  nearest 
railway  terminus ;  and  when,  by  the  end  of  the  year, 
the  insurrection  had  been  put  down,  it  was  found  that, 
after  the  first  treacherous  murders  of  the  isolated  whites, 
comparatively  few  Europeans  had  been  called  upon  to 
sacrifice  their  lives.  The  troops  employed  consisted  of  a 
small  number  of  British  regulars,  of  irregular  corps 
raised  in  Kimberley  and  Johannesburg,  and  of  the  hastily 
raised  citizen  forces  of  the  settlers  ;  and  among  these 
latter  many  Dutch  fought  side  by  side  with  their  British 
comrades.  They  were  placed  under  the  command  of  an 
Imperial  officer,  General  Sir  Frederick  Carrington  ;  but 
the  Company  defrayed  the  expenses  of  the  entire  military 
operations.  "It  is  the  ambition  of  the  Chartered 
Company  and  of  the  people  of  this  country  to  secure 
for  England  the  peaceful  possession  of  Rhodesia  at  their 
own  cost,  and  without  calling  upon  the  taxpayers  of 
England  or  of  the  Cape  Colony  for  the  contribution  of  a 
single  sixpence/'  was  the  reply  of  Lord  Grey,  who  had 
succeeded  Dr.  Jameson  as  the  Company's  administrator, 
to  the  offer  of  assistance  from  the  Cape  Government. 

Not  only  was  this  ambition  realised,  but  ample  com- 
pensation was  made  to  the  settlers  for  all  losses  caused 

186 


ADMINISTRATIVE  CHANGES 

by  the  insurrection,  and  by  the  enforced  destruction  of 
cattle  under  the  rinderpest  regulations.  At  the  same 
time  a  new  and  better  system  of  native  administration 
was  introduced.  Following  the  Natal  precedent,  the 
authority  of  the  chiefs,  and  the  tribal  divisions  and 
organisation  of  the  Bantu  population,  were  restored  so  far 
as  was  compatible  with  the  due  maintenance  of  the 
undisputed  supremacy  of  the  Government.  The  chiefs 
or  indunas,  under  this  system,  are  salaried  officials  of  the 
Government ;  and,  as  such,  they  are  responsible  in  the 
first  instance  for  the  maintenance  of  order  among  their 
people.  But  in  each  (native)  division  there  is  a  European 
official,  the  Native  Commissioner,  to  whom  the  chief 
pays  the  taxes  due  to  the  Government,  and  refers  for 
advice  and  direction  in  all  matters  affecting  the  interests 
of  the  European  inhabitants. 

Certain  changes  in  the  administrative  powers  and 
personnel  of  the  Chartered  Company,  which  were  the 
immediate  result  of  the  Raid,  must  be  briefly  mentioned. 
The  command  of  all  armed  forces,  police,  volunteers,  and 
native  levies,  was  at  once  withdrawn  from  the  Company 
by  the  Imperial  Government,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 
an  Imperial  officer,  styled  "  Commandant-General  of  the 
local  forces  in  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate  and  in  the 
territories  south  of  the  Zambezi  under  the  direct  admin- 
istration of  the  British  South  Africa  Company,  and 
Deputy-Commissioner  of  the  last  mentioned  territories." 
In  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate  all  administrative 
powers  of  the  Company  were  cancelled,  and  it  was  left 
with  its  commercial  rights  only.  In  Rhodesia  the  powers 
of  the  Company's  Administrator  were  henceforward 
to  be  purely  civil,  and  in  the  exercise  of  these  civil  powers 
he  was  to  be  subordinate  in  matters  of  policy  to  the 
Deputy-Commissioner,  the  local  representative  of  the 
Imperial  Government.  Four  days  after  the  surrender  of 
Dr.  Jameson's  force  to  the  Boers,  Rhodes  resigned  the 

187 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

premiership  of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  shortly  afterwards 
he  sailed  to  England  to  give  an  account  of  his  actions  to 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  and  the  Imperial  Government.  In 
June  he  and  Mr.  Alfred  Beit  resigned  their  seats  on  the 
Board  of  the  Company,  and  Rhodes'  power  of  attorney 
to  represent  the  directors  in  South  Africa  was  cancelled  ; 
and  on  July  30th,  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances 
of  the  Raid,  and  report  thereon.  In  the  meantime 
Lord  Grey, 1  a  Director  of  the  Company,  had  come  forward 
to  undertake  the  duty  of  administering  Rhodesia  at  this 
critical  moment.  The  native  insurrection  broke  out 
while  he  was  on  his  way  from  England  ;  at  Capetown 
he  accepted  an  offer  of  military  assistance  from  the 
Imperial  Government,  and  on  April  28th  he  arrived  at 
Buluwayo,  then  surrounded  by  10,000  Matabele  rebels, 
with  a  welcome  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition.  His 
cheery  defiance  of  circumstances — the  same  spirit  of 
high  courage  and  lofty  Imperial  aims  which  afterwards 
found  a  wider  field  for  its  expression  in  Canada — was 
reflected  in  his  first  public  speech.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  insurrection  the  Government  had  only  379  rifles, 
he  said ;  but  now  "  Buluwayo  was  as  safe  as  London." 

To  obtain  the  services  of  Lord  Grey  at  such  a  time  was  a 
signal  and  unexpected  advantage,  but  the  "  crowning 
mercy "  which  softened  this  year  of  pestilence,  civil 
commotion,  and  rebellion  to  Rhodesia  was  the  presence 
of  the  founder  himself.  When  the  report  of  the  insur- 
rection and  the  peril  of  Buluwayo  was  cabled  to  England, 
Rhodes  had  already  announced  his  intention  of  making 
Rhodesia  his  future  home,  and  of  henceforward  devoting 
his  energies  to  the  development  of  the  country  which 
had  already  come  to  bear  his  name.  This  news,  however, 
hastened  his  departure ;  and  travelling  by  the  Suez 
Canal  to  Beira  he  actually  reached  Salisbury  in  time  to 

1  Since  Governor-General  of  Canada  (1904-11). 

188 


RHODES   IN   RHODESIA 

set  out  on  April  18th  with  the  relief  column  equipped 
at  that  place,  which,  after  relieving  Gwelo  and  doing  other 
useful  work,  arrived  at  Buluwayo  on  the  30th  May. 

On  the  occasion  of  this  march,  and  subsequently 
during  the  rebellion,  Rhodes  showed  an  utter  disregard 
of  the  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed  from  the  Matabele 
guns  and  assagais.  But  he  did  more  than  this.  It  was 
due  to  his  courage  and  address  that  the  submission  of  the 
Matabele  chiefs  was  secured  when  the  rebellion  had  reached 
a  stage  in  which  it  threatened  to  develop  into  a  long 
protracted  and  harassing  guerrilla  war.  On  August 
23rd,  after  camping  without  any  military  protection  for 
six  weeks  at  the  foot  of  the  Matopo  hills,  he  rode,  with 
Dr.  Hans  Sauer,  Mr.  Collenbrander,  and  four  others, l 
for  four  miles  through  line  after  line  of  glittering  rocks 
and  broken  kopjes,  where  thousands  of  unseen  Matabele 
lay  securely  entrenched,  to  an  unknown  meeting  place 
to  hold  council  with  the  chiefs  and  indunas.  Then  : 

Just  four  miles  from  camp  the  six  reached  the  foot  of  a  huge 
kopje,  and  100  yards  further  on  was  the  try  sting-place.  Mr. 
Rhodes  and  his  companions  dismounted  in  dignified  silence,  and 
took  up  their  position  by  a  large  ant-heap  and  waited. 

The  suspense  seemed  interminable,  and  although  there  was 
the  stillness  of  death,  the  six  knew  well  enough  that  the  place 
was  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  armed  Matabele.  Any  wavering 
sign  of  fear  would  have  been  fatal,  but  nothing  of  the  kind  was 
shown. 

The  critical  moment  came  when  Grootboom2  advanced  to 
the  kopje  to  say  the  party  were  awaiting  the  appearance  of  the 
chiefs. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  gleam  of  dead  white  from  the  kopje,  and 
all  the  chiefs  filed  out  in  a  row,  headed  by  one  carrying  a  white 
flag.  They  drew  near  to  the  party  in  silence,  and  squatted  round 
them  in  a  semicircle.  The  Indaba  lasted  for  five  hours,  all  points 
at  issue  being  thoroughly  discussed,  and  full  explanations  prof- 
fered by  the  white  men  to  allay  the  uneasiness  which  the  chiefs 
evidently  felt  at  certain  possible  consequences  of  the  surrender. 

1  One  was  the  representative  of  the  Press.     All  took  revolvers, 
except  Rhodes,  who  was  entirely  unarmed. 

2  The   guide  and   intermediary  in  the  negotiations   between 
Rhodes  and  the  chiefs. 

189 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Then  the  chiefs  rose,  and  each  threw  a  small  stick  at  the  feet 
of  Mr.  Rhodes,  indicating  their  willingness  to  surrender  their 
guns,  while  another  similar  stick  meant  they  were  ready  to  hand 
over  their  assagais. 

In  return,  Mr.  Rhodes,  whose  coolness  and  dignity  were  never 
at  a  loss,  promised  that  the  desired  abolition  of  the  native  police 
force  should  be  taken  into  serious  consideration.  The  chiefs  then 
solemnly  declared  that  hostilities  should  cease  at  once,  and 
guaranteed  the  safety  of  the  roads  and  of  the  coaches.  * 

But  the  advantages  resulting  from  Rhodes1  presence 
in  the  colony  at  this  time  were  not  confined  to  the  assis- 
tance which  he  gave  in  the  suppression  of  the  native 
rebellion.  Employing  his  large  private  resources  to 
hasten  forward  the  railway  from  the  South,  he  wrought 
with  such  energy  that,  as  we  have  seen,  an  unprecedented 
rate  of  construction  was  attained,  and  before  the  end  of 
the  following  year  (1897)  Buluwayo  was  placed  in  direct 
railway  communication  with  Capetown.  He  built  for 
himself  a  spacious  house  in  the  Afrikander  style  on  the 
outskirts  of  Buluwayo,  and  a  comfortable  homestead  on 
the  Matopos.  Of  these  the  former  has  long  served  as  the 
official  residence  of  the  Company's  Administrator ; 
while  the  latter,  lying  near  to  his  favourite  hill  of  the 
World's  End  View,  on  the  summit  of  which  he  was  buried, 
and  to  the  great  park  that  he  made  and  bequeathed  to 
the  people  of  the  colony,  is  maintained  as  a  hotel  for  the 
convenience  of  visitors  to  the  colony  and  holiday-makers 
from  Buluwayo.  Realising  that  the  mines  alone,  without 
agriculture,  would  not  suffice  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
community,  he  turned  a  valley  into  a  lake,  bred  sheep, 
ostriches  and  cattle,  irrigated  and  cultivated  the  land, 
formed  nurseries  of  forest  trees,  flower  gardens,  and 
plantations  of  tropical  plants,  to  show  the  various  uses 
to  which  the  soil  could  be  put.  Wherever  he  went,  he 
made  it  his  business  to  learn  by  personal  converse  what 
were  the  difficulties  and  grievances  of  the  settlers  ;  and 

1  Daily  Telegraph,  August  24th,  1896. 

190 


INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 

thus  fortified  by  knowledge  he  set  himself  to  make  better 
provision  for  their  needs. 

By  these  activities  Rhodes  was  no  less  benefited 
than  Rhodesia.  He  had  felt  deeply  the  public  chastise- 
ment to  which  the  Raid  had  exposed  him ;  but  even 
"  unctuous  rectitude,'*  he  knew,  must  admit  that  in  these 
months  of  untiring  effort  he  had  done  some  service  to  the 
Empire.  He  had  another  source  of  consolation,  too, 
in  this  hour  of  bitter  defeat.  His  will,  in  which  the  whole 
scheme  of  the  Rhodes  Scholarships  was  set  forth,  and  the 
greater  portion  of  his  wealth  appropriated  to  the  realisa- 
tion of  his  great  idea,  had  been  made  already.  In  his 
moments  of  depression,  as  Lord  Rosebery  has  told  us, 
Rhodes  thought  over  this  document  with  the  comforting 
assurance,  that  when  he  was  dead,  it  would  show  his 
countrymen  how,  at  any  rate,  no  ignoble  motive  had  led 
him  into  his  great  political  error.  And  so  in  Rhodesia 
Rhodes  regained  the  sense  of  moral  integrity  which 
enabled  him,  when  he  returned  to  the  Cape  Colony  in 
the  following  July  (1897),  to  become  the  virtual,  though 
not  the  official,  head  of  the  Progressive  party — a  position 
which  he  maintained  until  almost  the  very  hour  of  his 
death. 1 

The  facts  necessary  to  bridge  the  interval  between 
these  early  struggles  and  the  assured  prosperity  of  to-day 
can  be  told  in  a  few  sentences.  In  1899,  the  year  of  the 
great  South  African  war  (1899-1902),  Rhodesia  took  its 
place  as  a  regular  contributor  to  the  world's  gold  supply 
with  an  annual  output  of  £205,690  in  value.  Thanks 
to  the  masterly  defence  of  Mafeking  by  Baden-Powell 
and  the  Company's  excellent  arrangements  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  frontier,  Rhodesia  suffered  no  injury  from  the 
Burgher  forces  ;  and  in  1900  the  value  of  the  gold  output 
had  risen  to  £308,249,  approximately  one-tenth  of  the 
present  value.  For  the  next  few  years  industrial  progress 

1  March  26th,  1902. 

191 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

was  retarded  by  the  shortage  of  native  African  labour 
— an  economic  difficulty,  directly  resulting  from  the 
war,  which  Rhodesia  shared  with  the  rest  of  South 
Africa.  None  the  less,  during  this  period  of  retarded 
development  the  railway  communications  were  steadily 
extended  and  improved,  constitutional  changes  giving 
the  settlers  a  voice  in  the  administration  of  the  colony 
were  introduced,  and  agriculture  as  well  as  mining  made 
slow  but  appreciable  progress.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1905  the  writer  saw  the  first  (trial)  train  steam  slowly 
across  the  giant  framework  of  the  Victoria  Falls  Bridge  ; 
and  in  this  year,  with  a  gold  export  of  £1,500,000,  Rho- 
desia may  be  said  to  have  "  turned  the  corner."  From 
this  date  onwards  the  progressive  advance  of  its  popu- 
lation and  industrial  resources  has  not  been  interrupted. 


192 


CHAPTER    II 

SOUTHERN   RHODESIA 

AT  the  present  time  the  British  South  Africa  Company's 
territories  are  divided  for  administrative  purposes  into 
Northern1  and  Southern  Rhodesia.  The  area  of  the 
former  is  291,000  square  miles  ;  or  roughly  twice  as  great 
as  that  of  the  latter — 148,575  square  miles.  They  are 
separated  by  the  river  Zambezi,  running  west  to  east ; 
and  both  are  traversed  from  south  to  north  by  the  Cape- 
to-Cairo  Railway.  Northern  Rhodesia  is  a  tropical 
country  with  830,985  native  inhabitants,  and  a  very 
small  European  population,  the  number  of  which  was 
returned  on  May  7th,  1911,  as  1434.  Its  imports  for  the 
year  1911  were  £127,664  in  value,  and  its  exports, 
£128,458.  It  has  a  considerable  export  of  copper  ore,  and 
it  is  likely  to  be  the  seat  of  cotton  production  on  a  great 
scale.  Apart  from  its  timber  and  rubber,  and  the  general 
suitability  of  its  soil  and  climate  for  the  growth  of  tropical 
produce,  it  possesses  an  immediately  remunerative 
source  of  wealth  in  the  numerous  wild  beasts,  which 
give  the  country  its  special  attraction  to  the  sportsman, 
and  to  one  of  which,  the  elephant,  it  owes  its  once 
considerable  export  of  ivory. 

Interesting  and  commercially  valuable,  however,  as  is 
Northern  Rhodesia,  it  is  the  lesser  division  of  the  vast 
territories  of  the  Chartered  Company  that  Englishmen 
speak  and  think  of  as  Rhodesia.  For  here,  south  of  the 
Zambezi,  is  the  country  in  which  Rhodes  lived,  and  worked 
and  was  buried  ;  the  Rhodesia  that  is  a  part  of  South 
Africa. 

The    Rhodesia    of    to-day,    then — that    is    Southern 

1  North-Eastern  and  North- Western  Rhodesia  were  united  on 
August  17th,  1911. 

193 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Rhodesia, — has  23,582 l  European  inhabitants  and  a 
native  population  of  750,000 ;  an  area  of  148,575  square 
miles ;  a  revenue  of  £773,209  10s.  2d.  meeting  an 
expenditure  of  £663,742  14s.  4d. ;  2  over  2,000  miles 
of  railways,  and  an  external  trade  of  £5,053,332. 3  Her 
gold  export  of  £2,624,908  in  value  for  the  year  1909 
placed  her  fourth  among  the  gold-producing  countries 
of  the  Empire  ;  the  value  of  her  soil  for  cattle-ranching 
and  all  forms  of  agriculture  has  been  established,  and  her 
tobacco  plantations  are  assured  of  a  ready  market  in 
England  and  America. 4  That  her  claim  to  provide  a 
healthy  and  prosperous  life  for  men  and  women 
of  the  British  race  is  not  baseless,  may  be  seen  from  the 
fact  that  her  European  population  has  almost  doubled 
within  the  last  seven  years. 

The  colony  is  governed,  under  the  authority  of  the 
Crown,  by  the  Company's  Administrator  ;  an  Executive 
Council  consisting  of  the  chief  officials  ;  and  a  Legislative 
Council,  the  members  of  which  are  partly  nominated, 
and  partly  elected  by  the  European  inhabitants.  The 
enactments  of  this  latter  body,  termed  Ordinances, 
require  the  assent  of  the  High  Commissioner  for  South 
Africa,  as  the  representative  of  the  King,  before  they  have 
the  force  of  law. 

The  Legislative  Council,  the  Parliament  of  the  colony, 
was  originally  constituted  in  1898,  when  it  consisted  of 
seven  members  nominated  by  the  Company  and  four 
elected  by  the  settlers.  In  the  year  1911  it  consisted 
of  seven  elected,  and  five  nominated,  members.  Apart 
from  the  fact  that  the  members  of  the  Executive  are 

1  May,  1911  :  showing  an  increase  of  10,906  over  the  numbers 
returned  in  the  census  of  1904. 

2  For  year  ended  March  31st,  1911. 

3  For  1911 — excluding  specie  and  re-exported  imports. 

4  Some  particulars  of  these  and  other  industries  will  be  found 
in  the  later  chapters,  where  they  are  treated  as  part  of  the 
industries  of  South  Africa  as  a  whole. 

194 


EUROPEAN   POPULATION 


responsible  to  the  Company,  and  ultimately  to  the  Crown, 
this  Council  exercises  much  the  same  legislative  powers 
as  are  possessed  by  the  legislature  of  a  self-governing 
colony. 

While  Salisbury,  in  Mashonaland,  remains  the  seat  of 
the  Administration,  Buluwayo,  in  Matabeleland,  is  the 
largest  European  town,  and  the  chief  commercial  centre 
of  the  colony.  Second  to  these,  are  the  towns  of  Umtali 
in  Mashonaland  and  Gwelo  in  Matabeleland.  The 
following  tables  show  the  distribution  of  the  European 
population  on  the  night  of  May  7th,  1911. l 
MASHONALAND 


Fiscal  Division. 

Popula- 
tion. 

Chief  Town,  etc.,  of 
Division. 

Popula- 
tion. 

Salisbury  .  .  ... 
Umtali  

6,573 
2  151 

Salisbury  township 
Umtali  township 

3,019 
946 

Victoria 

437 

Victoria  township 

97 

Melsetter        
Charter  
Hartley  
Railway  and  Coach 
•  >  Passengers 

600 
701 
2,031 

50 

Melsetter  village 
Enkeldoorn  village 
Gatooma  village 

30 
102 
294 

Total  

12,543 

MATABELELAND 


Fiscal  Division. 

Popula- 
tion. 

Chief  Town,  etc.,  of 
Division. 

Popula- 
tion. 

Buluwayo      
Gwelo     

8,355 
2  095 

Buluwayo  —  Town 
and  suburbs          .  . 

4  177 

Gwanda  
Railway  and  Coach 
Passengers 

407 
180 

Gwelo  township 
Gwanda  village 

306 
33 

Total  

11,039 

In  forming  a  conception  from  the  above  tables  of  the 
size  and  importance  of  these  places,  it  must  be  remembered 

1  Compiled  from  the  Government  Gazette  of  the  B.S.A.  Co., 
June  16th, 1911. 

195 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

that  no  mention  is  made  in  them  of  the  native  population. 
In  Rhodesia  not  only  are  the  household  servants  almost 
entirely  male  natives,  but  native  labour  performs  most 
of  the  rough  work  of  all  industries — work  which  in 
England,  or  any  other  purely  white  state,  would  be  done 
by  whites  of  the  "  wage-earning,"  and  most  numerous, 
classes  of  the  community.  The  consideration  is  one  that 
applies,  though  in  a  varying  degree,  to  all  the  great 
centres  of  population  in  South  Africa,  in  respect  of  which 
the  number  of  European  inhabitants  alone  is  generally, 
but  quite  wrongly,  assumed  to  measure  their  importance, 
and  afford  a  basis  of  comparison  between  them  and 
purely  European  towns.  Of  the  Rhodesian  towns, 
Salisbury  and  Buluwayo  alone  possess  municipal  insti- 
tutions ;  but  the  local  affairs  of  the  lesser  towns  and  vil- 
lages are  managed  by  Sanitary  and  Village  Management 
Boards. 

This  European  community  as  a  whole,  and  its  various 
centres  of  population  taken  separately,  may  be  considered 
to  be  well  provided  with  the  necessaries  and  conveniences 
of  civilised  life.  One  or  two  examples  will  serve  to  show 
that  the  progress  of  Rhodesia  in  this  respect  has  been 
unusually  rapid.  Churches,  law  courts,  schools,  railways ; 
postal, l  telegraphic,  and  telephonic  communication ; 
banks  and  newspapers  ;  parks  and  recreation  grounds — 
all  these  are  expected  as  a  matter  of  course  in  a  British 
colony,  even  though  it  is  barely  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
But  Rhodesia,  owing  to  the  personal  responsibility  for 
its  welfare  which  Rhodes  and  other  founders  have 
assumed,  enjoys  some  advantages  that  are  rarely  to  be 
found  in  so  young  a  State.  The  provision  for  Education 
is  a  case  in  point.  Over  thirty  public  schools  have  been 
established  by  the  Administration  in  the  towns,  at  the 
larger  mines,  and  in  country  districts ;  and  there  are 

1  Rhodesia,  in  common  with  other  parts  of  South  Africa,  has 
a  weekly  mail  to  and  from  England. 

196 


SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOLARSHIPS 

denominational  schools  at  Buluwayo,  Salisbury  and 
Gwelo.  The  bursaries  and  scholarships  are  numerous 
and  generous.  Two  hundred  and  sixty  boarding  grants 
of  £20 l  per  annum  per  child  are  distributed,  of  which  160 
are  provided  by  the  Administration  and  100  by  the 
Beit  Trustees.  Each  year  twenty  scholarships  of  £20  per 
annum  for  day  scholars,  and  £40  for  boarders,  tenable  for 
three  years,  are  awarded  under  the  terms  of  the  Beit 
Bequest ;  and  the  same  source  provides — also  each  year — 
three  Bursaries  of  £100  per  annum  tenable  for  three  years 
at  any  of  the  University  Colleges  of  South  Africa.  Nor 
need  the  young  Rhodesian  scholar,  whose  foot  has  once 
been  planted  firmly  upon  the  academic  ladder,  fail 
to  reach  its  highest  rung.  In  the  distribution  of  his 
scholarships,  Rhodes  naturally  gave  a  preference  to  the 
community  which  he  brought  into  being.  And  thus, 
as  "  founder's  kin,"  Rhodesia  has  every  year  no  less 
than  three  of  the  Rhodes  Scholarships ;  which,  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  add,  are  each  of  the  annual  value  of  £300, 
and  tenable  for  three  years  at  Rhodes'  Own  Alma  Mater — 
the  University  of  Oxford.2 

Or,  to  turn  from  moral  to  physical  needs,  the  provision 
for  medical  aid  is  on  a  scarcely  less  ample  scale.  It 
comprises  : 

(1)  Fully    equipped   hospitals    at    Salisbury,    Umtali, 
Gwelo,  and  Hartley ;  a  Relieving  Ward  at  Enkeldoorn  ; 
a  Native  Hospital  at  Gatooma,  and  Cottage  Hospitals, 
also    fully    equipped,    at    Victoria,    Gwanda,   Belingwe, 
Abercorn,  Mazoe  and  Sinoia  ; 

(2)  A  public  Memorial  Hospital  at  Buluwayo  supported 
in  part  by  voluntary  contributions  and  in  part  by  a 
grant-in-aid  from  the  Administration  ; 

1  The  boarding  fees   are   not   generally   more  than  £50  per 
annum,  plus  the  ordinary  school  fees  for  day  scholars  of  from 
£3  to  £6. 

2  For  particulars  see  forward,  Part  V,  Chap.  IV,  "Education," 
p.  472. 

197 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

(3)  District  Surgeons  stationed  at  Salisbury,  Buluwayo, 
Umtali,    Hartley,    Belingwe,    Mazoe,    Malsetter,  Gwelo, 
Gwanda,    Selukwe,    Inyanga,    Marandellas,    Abercorn, 
Victoria,  Enkeldoorn  and  Inyati ; 

(4)  Subsidised  Medical  officers  resident  at  Plumtree, 
Rusapi,    Sinoia,    Gatooma   and    Kimberley    Reefs ;  and 

(5)  A  department  of  Public  Health. 

A  general  account  of  the  climate  of  Rhodesia  has  been 
included  in  the  description  of  the  physical  characteristics 
of  South  Africa  as  a  whole,  with  which  this  volume 
opened.  A  few  specific  details,  however,  will  not  be  found 
superfluous.  The  determining  factor  is,  of  course,  the 
high  average  elevation  of  the  country,  the  central  plateau 
of  which  is  raised  from  3,500  to  5,000  feet  above  sea  level. 
This  factor  preserves  the  people  of  Rhodesia,  though 
living  within  the  tropics,  from  most,  though  not  all, 
of  the  climatic  disadvantages  to  which  European  residents 
in  other  tropical  countries  are  generally  subjected.  The 
character  of  the  Rhodesian  year  can  be  indicated  most 
conveniently  by  dividing  it  into  only  two  seasons  ;  the 
wet,  or  warm  season,  lasting  from  the  end  of  October 
to  the  beginning  of  April,  and  the  dry,  or  cool  season, 
which  prevails  during  the  remaining  seven  months. 
The  heat  of  the  sun's  rays  in  the  warm  season  is,  therefore, 
tempered  by  the  prevalence  of  rain  clouds,  while  in  the 
cool  season  it  warms  the  earth  unchecked  the  whole  day 
through.  Moreover  the  high  altitude  brings  healthful 
winds,  which  in  the  warm  season  prevent  the  moist  air 
from  becoming  stagnant  and  oppressive,  and  in  the  dry 
season  moderate  the  power  of  the  unveiled  sun  in  its 
midday  glory.  That  the  excessive  moisture  usually 
associated  with  tropical  countries  is  not  to  be  feared  in 
Rhodesia  is  shown  by  the  average  rainfall.  In  Mashona- 
land  it  is  32  inches,  or  practically  the  same  as  in  the 
United  Kingdom ;  but  in  Matabeleland  it  is  only  24 
inches — one-fourth  less  than  that  of  the  mother  country. 

198 


CLIMATE  AND   RAINFALL 


The  following  tables,  taken  together,  will  give  a  fairly 
complete  idea  of  the  kind  of  weather  which  may  be 
expected. 

AVERAGE  RAINFALL  RECORDED  OVER  A  PERIOD  OF 
YEARS  INCLUDING  1910 

MASHONALAND 


Station. 

Amount  in 
Inches. 

Number  of 
Days  on  which 
Rain  fell. 

Number  of 
years  covered 
by  observations 

Salisbury 
Melsetter   ..      .. 

32-38 
45-11 

87 
102 

13 
12 

Umtali       .  . 

30-59 

88 

11 

Victoria 

25-22 

60 

12 

MATABELELAND 


Buluwayo 

23-36 

78 

13 

Gwelo 

24-98 

77 

10 

Tuli     

13-72 

33 

11 

This  and  the  two  tables  overleaf  show  that  there  are 
no  great  extremes  of  heat,  while,  as  for  cold,  even  as  much 
as  two  degrees  of  frost  at  night  is  rare.  The  rainfall,  if 
properly  conserved,  is  sufficient,  but  it  is  certainly 
not  excessive  ;  and  the  relatively  short  space  of  time  in 
which  it  falls  makes  the  number  of  rainy  days  all  the  fewer. 
The  writer's  own  experience  of  the  climate  of  Rhodesia, 
in  the  months  of  April  and  May,  at  Buluwayo,  the  Matopos, 
the  Victoria  Falls,  Salisbury  and  Umtali,  was  wholly 
pleasant ;  and  although  the  same  perfection  of  sky  and 
temperature  is  not  to  be  expected  all  the  year  round,  it 
may  be  said  safely  of  the  climate  as  a  whole  that  it  is 
"  one  of  the  most  delightful  in  the  world." 

The  agricultural  and  industrial  resources  of  this  colony 
will  be  treated  as  part  of  the  common  stock  of  South 
Africa,  but  the  mention  of  certain  political  and  social 
characteristics  which  place  Rhodesia  somewhat  apart 
from  the  provinces  of  the  Union,  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

199 

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THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

In  the  first  place,  Rhodesia  has  benefited  by  the 
experiences  of  the  older  European  communities  of  South 
Africa,  with  the  result  that  political  and  industrial  mistakes 
have  been  avoided,  and  the  administrative  machinery 
has  been  planned  upon  the  best  lines  and  runs  smoothly. 
Then  she  has  no  "  nationality  difficulty."  The  Dutch 
Afrikanders  who  have  settled  within  her  borders,  are 
content  to  identify  themselves  in  sentiment,  language, 
and  manner  of  life  with  their  much  more  numerous 
British  neighbours.  The  controversies,  by  which  the 
people  of  the  Union  are  chiefly  agitated — controversies 
which  arise  mainly  out  of  racial  antagonism — such  as  the 
respective  degrees  in  which  Dutch  and  English  are  to  be 
taught  in  the  public  elementary  schools,  or  whether 
British  emigrants  should  be  encouraged,  or  warned  off, 
are  not,  therefore,  to  be  found  in  Rhodesia.  Freedom 
from  the  bilingual  incubus  in  itself  is  an  appreciable 
economic  gain.  There  is  no  need  for  double  notices — 
English  and  Dutch — or  for  the  double  medium  of  instruc- 
tion in  the  schools  ;  since  English  is  the  only  language 
employed  in  politics,  business,  and  social  intercourse.1 

The  existence  of  these  advantages  bulks  largely  among 
the  considerations  which  govern  the  attitude  of  Rhodesia 
upon  the  question  of  admission  to  the  Union.  What 
this  attitude  is  may  be  gathered  from  the  speech  delivered 
by  the  Administrator,  Sir  William  Milton,  at  the  opening 
of  the  session  of  the  Legislative  Council  on  May  17th, 
1909.  With  reference  to  the  Union  of  the  four  colonies, 
which  was  then  on  the  eve  of  accomplishment,  he  said  : 

Although  it  was  not  thought  desirable  to  include  Rhodesia  in 
the  proposed  Union  from  the  outset,  special  provision  has  been 

1  The  "  Kitchen  Kafir,"  which  is  the  usual  language  of  com- 
munication between  the  Europeans  and  the  Natives  is  easily 
learnt ;  but  in  the  towns  even  this  knowledge  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary, since  the  Natives  in  domestic  service  and  other  town 
employment  have  learnt,  generally,  to  speak  English — and  are 
proud  of  the  accomplishment. 

202 


RHODESIA  AND  THE  UNION 

made  for  admission  when  the  circumstances  of  the  country 
permit ;  and  I  desire  to  repeat  the  hope  expressed  by  me  last 
year,  that  at  no  distant  date  it  may  be  found  possible  for 
Southern  Rhodesia  to  take  that  place  in  the  Union  which  is 
due  to  it  by  reason  of  the  character  of  its  population  and  its 
varied  and  great  resources. 

The  Government  desires  to  give  the  assurance  that  no  agree- 
ment in  regard  to  Union  will  be  accepted  by  it  which  does  not 
take  into  account  the  views  and  circumstances  of  all  classes  of 
the  community. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  Rhodesia 
will  seek  admission  to  the  Union,  so  long  as  this  step 
involves  a  sacrifice  of  her  immunity  from  racial  conflicts 
or  a  diminution  of  her  administrative  efficiency.  Such 
patriotic  considerations  as  are  valid  in  the  existing 
circumstances  point  in  the  same  direction  as  her  economic 
and  political  interests.  The  degree  of  influence  in  the 
common  counsels  to  which  her  present  population  would 
entitle  her  as  a  Province  of  the  Union,  would  be  too  small 
to  enable  her  to  assist  materially  in  allaying  the  racial  and 
social  controversies  which  form  the  chief  obstacle  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  Union  :  while  for  the  same  reason  she 
would  run  the  risk  of  seeing  the  development  of  her 
European  population,  as  a  homogeneous  and  progressive 
community,  retarded  by  uncongenial  legislation  or 
administrative  neglect.  In  these  circumstances,  it  would 
seem  that  Rhodesia  would  promote  alike  her  individual 
interests,  and  those  of  South  Africa  as  a  whole,  by  resolv- 
ing to  remain  outside  the  Union,  until  the  growth  of  her 
population  and  the  consolidation  of  her  material  resources 
are  such,  that  they  will  secure  for  her  an  effective  part 
in  shaping  its  destinies. 

But  apart  from  these  considerations,  there  is  another 
element  in  the  situation  in  which  the  Union  is  concerned 
equally  with  Rhodesia.  Up  to  the  present  the  Chartered 
Company,  as  we  have  before  noticed,  has  provided  the 
whole  of  the  large  capital  expenditure  necessary  for  the 
acquisition,  administration,  and  general  development 

203 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

of  the  colony.  If  Southern  Rhodesia  had  been  a  Crown 
Colony,  this  capital  expenditure  (which  is,  of  course, 
distinct  from  any  sums  invested  by  the  Company  in 
specific  industrial  undertakings  within  its  territories) 
would  have  been  provided  in  part  no  doubt  by  the  British 
taxpayer,  but  most  of  it  would  have  been  raised  by  loans, 
the  principle  and  interest  of  which  would  have  been 
secured  upon  the  assets  and  revenues  of  the  Government 
of  the  colony.  These  loans,  thus  secured,  would  have 
constituted  collectively  the  public  debt  of  the  colony, 
and  the  annual  service  of  this  debt  would  have  been  a 
first  charge  upon  its  revenues.  Rhodesia,  as  it  is,  has 
no  such  public  debt ;  but  its  equivalent  exists  in  the 
proprietary  rights  in  the  country  possessed  by  the  Char- 
tered Company  under  the  terms  and  conditions  of  its 
Charter  of  incorporation.1 

These  rights,  representing  the  security  of  the  share- 
holders of  the  Company  for  the  money  which  they  have 
subscribed,  are,  broadly,  the  unalienated  land  and 
mineral  rights  of  the  colony.  Moreover,  of  the  specific 
industrial  undertakings  of  the  Company,  one,  namely 
the  construction  and  working  of  the  railways,  is  an 
undertaking  which  in  South  Africa  is  regarded  as  coming 
within  the  sphere  of  government.  And  on  this  head  it 
must  be  added  that  although  the  Rhodesia  Railways, 
Ltd.,  and  the  Beira  and  Mashonaland  Railway  Company, 
Ltd. — the  two  companies  by  which  the  over  2,000  miles 
of  the  Rhodesian  railway  system  are  owned  and  worked — 
are  separate  undertakings  under  separate  management, 
in  both  of  them  a  controlling  interest  is  held  by  the 
British  South  Africa  Company.  It  is  obvious,  therefore, 
that  before  any  Government  of  the  Union  could  accept 
the  responsibility  of  administering  Southern  Rhodesia 
as  a  Province,  it  would  be  necessary  that  the  colony 
should  be  released  from  any  such  proprietary  rights  of 

1  Subject  to  subsequent  and  valid  modifications  (if  any). 

204 


BIG  GAME  SHOOTING 

the  Company  as  would  limit  the  power  of  the  Union 
Government  to  raise  revenue,  or  interfere  with  the 
performance  of  any  of  its  duties  or  functions  as  denned 
in  the  Union  Act.  With  every  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
settlers  to  do  justice  to  the  shareholders,  and  with  a 
corresponding  goodwill  on  the  part  of  the  directors  of  the 
Company,  the  process  of  ascertaining  what  capital  sum 
is  the  just  equivalent  of  the  rights  to  be  surrendered  will 
none  the  less  be  one  of  considerable  difficulty.  And 
when  an  agreement  on  this  head  has  been  reached,  there 
will  remain  the  further  question,  whether  the  public 
indebtedness  of  the  colony,  as  thus  ascertained,  will  be 
greater  than  the  Union  Government,  having  regard  to 
the  taxable  capacity  of  its  inhabitants  and  its  revenual 
prospects  in  general,  would  be  prepared  to  assume. 

Financial  considerations,  no  less  than  political,  seem, 
therefore,  to  counsel  delay ;  since  every  increase  of 
European  population,  and  every  fresh  development  of 
industry,  will  bring  Southern  Rhodesia  nearer  to  the 
time  when  its  actual  and  potential  sources  of  revenue 
will  enable  it,  or  the  Union  on  its  behalf,  to  offer  a  fair 
recompense  to  the  Company  without  unduly  burdening 
either  its  own  taxpayers,  or  those  of  the  Union.  In  the 
meantime  it  is  to  the  interest  of  all  parties  "  to  let  well 
alone." 

NOTE   ON   SPORT   IN   RHODESIA 

In  view  of  the  special  attractions  which  Rhodesia  presents  to 
the  sportsman,  the  following  brief  particulars  may  be  of  interest : 
The  writings  and  exploits  of  Mr.  F.  C.  Selous  and  others  have 
made  English  readers  acquainted  with  the  general  character  of 
the  game,  big  and  small,  which  abounds  in  the  country,  both 
north  and  south^of  the  Zambezi.  The  "  common  "  kinds  include 
the  elephant,  eland,  sable  and  roan  antelopes,  buffalo,  kudu, 
and  waterbuck.  The  rhinoceros  also  is  plentiful  in  certain 
localities,  and  the  lion,  although  like  other  beasts  of  prey,  seldom 
seen  in  daylight,  is  to  be  found  wherever  there  is  big  game.  A 
permit  must  be  obtained  from  the  Administrator,  or  from  the 
British  South  Africa  Co.,  2  London  Wall  Buildings,  E.G.,  before 
firearms  or  ammunition  can  be  taken  into  Rhodesia.  There  is 

205 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

no  gun  licence ;  but  a  duty  of  20s.  for  a  single  barrel,  or  30s. 
for  a  double-barrel  gun,  with,  in  either  case,  10  per  cent,  ad 
valorem  in  addition,  has  to  be  paid  by  any  person  bringing  a  gun 
into  the  country.  There  is  also  a  duty  on  ammunition.  An 
ordinary  game  licence  costs  £1 ,  but  special  licences  (£5  to  £25  and 
upwards)  are  required  to  shoot  particular  kinds  of  big  game. 
Sportsmen  are  recommended  by  the  Company  to  make  them- 
selves acquainted,  on  arrival  in  Rhodesia,  with  the  various  game 
reserves  which  have  been  proclaimed  ;  and  to  obtain  full  informa- 
tion in  respect  of  them  from  the  Company's  officials  in  the  dis- 
tricts in  which  it  is  proposed  to  hunt.  Information  of  a  general 
character  can  be  obtained  from  the  Company's  offices  in  London 
(including  an  excellent  illustrated  handbook  on  Big  Game 
Shooting  in  Rhodesia}. 


206 


CHAPTER    III 

THE   NATIVE   TERRITORIES 

FOUR-FIFTHS  of  the  6,000,000  natives  of  British  South 
Africa,  having  been  incorporated  prior  to  the  Union  into 
one  or  other  of  the  four  constituent  colonies,  are  now 
ruled  by  the  Union  Government.  Three  Native  Terri- 
tories, however,  Basutoland,  the  Bechuanaland  Pro- 
tectorate, and  Swaziland,  with  an  aggregate  population 
of  rather  more  than  half  a  million  persons,  and  a  total 
area  of  rather  less  than  300,000  square  miles,  remain  for 
the  present  outside  the  Union.  It  is  the  natural  destiny 
of  these  native  states — for  in  each  of  them  the  European 
population  numbers  only  a  thousand,  more  or  less — 
to  be  "  taken  over  "  by  the  Union  Government ;  and  the 
manner  in  which  they  are  to  be  administered  in  this 
event  is  set  out  in  the  schedule  to  the  Act  of  Union. 
The  general  intention  of  the  schedule  is  to  preserve  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  several  native  populations, 
and,  subject  to  the  necessary  adjustments,  to  secure  a 
continuance  of  the  existing  systems  of  administration. 
From  this  point  of  view  three  of  the  most  important 
sections  are  those  which  deal  respectively  with  land 
tenure,  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  "  pitsos," 
or  assemblies  of  the  tribesmen,  customary  among  the 
industrial  Bantu.  They  are  : 

14.  It  shall  not  be  lawful  to  alienate  any  land  in  Basutoland 
or  any  land  forming  part  of  the  native  reserves  in  the  Bechuana- 
land Protectorate  and  Swaziland  from  the  native  tribes  inhabiting 
those  territories. 

15  The  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  to  natives  shall  be  pro- 
hibited in  the  territories,  and  no  provision  giving  facilities  for 
introducing,  obtaining,  or  possessing  such  liquor  in  any  part  of 
the  territories  less  stringent  than  those  existing  at  the  time  of 

207 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  transfer  [of  the  territories  from  the  Imperial  to  the  Union 
Government]  shall  be  allowed. 

16.  The  custom,  where  it  exists,  of  holding  "  pitsos  "  or  other 
recognised  forms  of  native  assembly  shall  be  maintained  in  the 
territories. 

In  each  case,  however,  there  were  special  reasons 
which  made  it  seem  expedient  for  these  territories  to 
continue  for  the  present  under  the  direct  administration 
of  the  Imperial  Government  through  the  High  Commis- 
sioner for  South  Africa.  In  two  of  them,  Basutoland  and 
Bechuanaland,  the  natives,  being  industrial  Bantu,  are 
sufficiently  advanced  in  civilisation  to  be  allowed  to 
pursue  their  own  native  manner  of  life  under  the  imme- 
diate rule  of  their  chiefs,  who  are  themselves,  however, 
guided  and  controlled  by  Imperial  officers.  Here  it 
was  "  to  let  well  alone/'  to  permit  existing  agencies  of 
proved  efficiency  to  complete  their  work,  that  made 
a  change  of  government  seem  inexpedient.  In  the  case 
of  Swaziland,  the  smallest  of  the  three,  considerations 
of  an  opposite  order  counselled  delay.  The  native 
population,  which  consists  of  military  Bantu,  and  is 
probably  an  offshoot  from  the  Zulu  people,  has  no  claim 
to  moral  superiority  ;  but  the  country  has  only  just  been 
extricated  from  the  industrial  chaos  into  which  it  was 
thrown  by  the  reckless  and  unlimited  concessions  granted 
to  Europeans  by  the  late  Chief  Umbandine,  after  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  his  territory  in  1885.  Possessing 
considerable  deposits  of  gold  and  tin,  and  lying,  as  it 
does,  between  the  Transvaal  and  the  sea  in  the  line  of  the 
proposed  direct  railway  from  the  Rand  to  Delagoa  Bay, 
Swaziland  may  any  day  become  an  important  field  for 
European  enterprise. 

BASUTOLAND 

Basutoland  is  an  oblong  stretch  of  mountainous 
country,  separated  on  its  north-west  side  by  the  Caledon 
River  from  the  Free  State  province,  and  rising  thence 

208 


BASUTOLAND 

in  the  Maluti  Mountains  to  the  steep  escarpment  of  the 
Drakenberg  range,  which  on  the  north-east  and  south- 
east forms,  as  it  were,  a  sunk  fence  between  it  and  the 
provinces  of  Natal  and  the  Cape.  At  the  corner  of  the 
bend,  where  the  Drakenberg  range  projects  due  east 
into  Natal,  Champagne  Castle,  the  highest  mountain  of 
South  Africa,  rises  12,000  feet  above  sea  level.  South-west, 
where  the  Kornet  Spruit  and  the  Orange  River  leave  their 
mountain  cradles,  the  land  opens  to  the  Cape  and  Free 
State.  This  little  country  of  mountain  peaks  and  rushing 
torrents  has  been  called  the  "  Switzerland  "  of  South 
Africa  with  a  greater  closeness  of  analogy  than  is  customary 
in  such  descriptions :  since,  apart  from  its  physical 
likeness,  its  people  resemble  the  Swiss  in  their  composite 
origin,  the  strenuous  defence  of  the  liberties  of  their 
mountain  home,  and  their  complete  environment  by 
powerful  neighbouring  states.  For  the  rest,  Basutoland 
has  an  area  of  10,203  square  miles,  an  average  elevation 
of  6,000  feet,  an  ample  but  not  excessive  rainfall  of 
between  30  and  40  inches,  and  a  mountain  air  the  mean 
maximum  and  minimum  temperatures  of  which  were, 
in  1910,  72.7°  and  41.6°  F.  respectively. 

The  Basuto  people,  as  we  have  seen, 1  were  created  by 
the  address  and  policy  of  the  wise  chief,  Moshesh  (1815- 
1870),  out  of  bands  of  fugitives,  mainly  industrial  Bantu, 
who  gathered  in  the  mountains  to  escape  destruction  at 
the  hands  of  the  military  tribes.  As  early  as  1833 
Moshesh  admitted  the  representatives  of  the  Paris 
Evangelical  Society,  and  since  then  Basutoland  has 
remained  one  of  the  most  successful  fields  of  missionary 
enterprise.  After  years  of  prosperity  and  many  suc- 
cessful conflicts  with  native  and  European  invaders, 
the  Basutos  were  broken  by  four  years'  war  with  the 
Boers  of  the  Free  State,  and  only  escaped  from  eviction 
and  dispersal  at  the  hands  of  their  conquerors  by  finding 

1  Part  I,  Chap.  II,  p.  33. 

209 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

a  refuge  under  "  the  large  folds  of  the  flag  of  England." 
At  this  date,  1868,  the  most  fertile  half  of  their  original 
territory  had  been  wrested  from  them  by  the  Boers, 
2,000  of  their  people  had  been  killed,  and  15,000  more 
had  fled  from  the  country.  The  100,000  or  so  who 
remained  were  miserable,  poor  and  in  great  distress  ;  and 
Moshesh,  who  had  performed  this  last  and  crowning 
service  of  winning  for  them  the  protection  of  Great 
Britain,  was  soon  to  die. 

As  British  subjects,  however,  the  Basutos,  being 
naturally  industrious  and  eager  traders,  rapidly  recovered 
their  prosperity  ;  and  the  census  of  1875  showed  a  return 
of  127,707  native,  and  469  European  inhabitants.  In 
1871  the  country  was  annexed  to  the  Cape ;  and  the 
local  government  remained  responsible  for  it  until  the 
year  1884,  when  it  was  handed  back  to  the  Imperial 
authorities.  The  circumstances  which  led  to  the  aban- 
donment of  Basutoland  by  the  Cape  Colony — the  only 
instance  of  an  administrative  failure  of  the  kind — serve 
to  remind  us  of  the  fact  that  the  supremacy  of  the  white 
race  in  South  Africa  has  only  been  established  quite 
recently,  and  then  as  the  result  of  constantly  recurring 
and  arduous  warfare.  In  the  early  years  of  the  diamond 
industry,  the  natives  who  worked  on  the  mines  were 
allowed  to  purchase  guns  and  ammunition  without 
restriction  ;  and  among  the  tribes  which  thus  became 
possessed  of  fire-arms  were  the  Basutos,  large  numbers 
of  whom  were  sent  to  work  at  Kimberley  by  their  chiefs 
with  this  very  object  in  view.  It  was  the  epoch  of  that 
general  manifestation  of  hostility  against  European 
authority  on  the  part  of  the  military  Bantu,  which 
produced  the  last  Kafir  war  (1877-8)  and  the  Zulu  war 
(1879).  In  the  year  of  this  latter  conflict  there  were 
disturbances  in  Basutoland,  and  in  1880  the  Cape  Govern- 
ment determined  to  carry  out  a  systematic  disarmament 
of  this  and  of  other  native  territories  for  which  it  was 

210 


ABANDONED   BY  THE  CAPE 

responsible.  The  proclamation  ordering  the  Basutos 
to  surrender  their  guns  and  ammunition  was  disobeyed 
by  the  whole  tribe,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  loyal 
chiefs  and  their  immediate  followers.  The  virtual 
revolt  of  the  Basutos  was  followed  by  disturbances  among 
the  natives  in  Griqualand  East,  Pondoland  and  Tembu- 
land,  and  the  great  mass  of  Bantu  population  lying  between 
the  Cape  and  Natal  was  dangerously  agitated.  The 
local  forces  of  the  Cape  Government  were  successful  in 
putting  down  these  risings  on  its  eastern  border,  but 
when  they  advanced  into  Basutoland,  the  strenuous 
resistance  of  the  tribesmen,  combined  with  the  moun- 
tainous character  of  the  country,  defied  all  their  efforts. 
After  an  attempt  to  secure  a  peaceful  settlement  through 
the  mediation  of  the  High  Commissioner  had  failed,  the 
Cape  Government  resolved  to  abandon  the  territory 
to  its  fate. 

In  these  circumstances  the  Imperial  Government, 
foreseeing  that  such  a  denouement  might  produce 
most  disastrous  political  effects,  once  more  assumed 
a  direct  responsibility  for  the  administration  of  Basuto- 
land. But  in  doing  so,  they  made  two  prudent  stipu- 
lations. With  the  Cape  Government  they  stipulated 
that  the  duties  collected  at  the  ports  on  oversea  imports 
destined  for  the  territory  should  be  paid  over  to  the 
administration — in  other  words  that  Basutoland  should 
not  be  deprived  of  its  customs  revenue  ;  and  with  the 
Basutos  themselves,  that  unless  they  gave  proof  of  their 
desire  to  be  ruled  by  Imperial  officers  by  actively 
co-operating  with  them,  the  new  administration  would  be 
withdrawn.  The  first  Resident-Commissioner,  Sir 
Marshal]  Clarke,  possessed  the  capacity  of  making 
prompt  decisions,  and  the  sympathy  and  knowledge 
of  Bantu  conditions,  which  are  requisite  for  the  successful 
handling  of  the  South  African  natives.  In  due  course  he 
restored  order,  and  established  the  simple  but  efficient 

211 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

system  of  administration  under  which  Basutoland  has 
reached  its  present  prosperity.  His  successor,  Sir 
Godfrey  Lagden,  was  no  less  capable  and  experienced  ; 
and  to  him  belongs  the  credit  of  restraining  these  moun- 
tain tribesmen,  who  were  naturally  eager  to  secure  so 
favourable  an  opportunity  of  paying  off  old  scores  upon 
the  Free  State  Boers,  from  taking  part  in  the  great 
South  African  war.  Thus  since  1884  Basutoland,  apart 
from  tribal  quarrels,  has  enjoyed  peace  and  settled 
government  under  the  direct  administration  of  the 
Imperial  Government.  In  this  period  of  rather  less  than 
thirty  years  the  native  population  has  doubled,  the 
annual  revenue  has  advanced  from  a  few  thousand  pounds 
to  £119,974  in  1909-10,  and  the  external  trade  of  the 
country  has  reached  the  respectable  total  of  over  £600,000 
per  annum.  The  whole  of  the  revenue  is  spent  in  pro- 
viding for  the  needs  of  the  territory  ;  and  not  only  is 
there  no  public  debt,  but  the  Administration  has  a 
balance,  exceeding  a  year's  revenue  in  amount,  standing 
to  its  credit  in  the  bank. 

The  system  of  administration  under  which  these  excel- 
lent results  have  been  obtained  is,  in  its  general  features, 
the  system  applied  throughout  British  South  Africa  to  all 
native  populations  living  on  land  reserved  for  their  sole 
occupation  or  in  native  territories,  whether  within  or 
without  the  Union.  The  basis  of  the  system  is  the 
maintenance  of  so  much  of  the  tribal  organisation  and 
authority  of  the  chief,  and  the  recognition  of  so  much  of 
the  native  law  and  custom,  as  is  found,  in  each  case, 
to  be  consistent  with  the  establishment  of  a  civilised 
government  under  European  officials.  It  is,  therefore, 
an  application  of  the  wider  principle  of  the  recognition 
of  local  institutions  and  local  laws  adopted  alike  in  the 
Roman  and  British  Empires  for  the  incorporation  and 
government  of  tributary  states  and  subject  populations. 

The  territory  of  Basutoland  is  administered  by  a 

212 


ADMINISTRATIVE  SYSTEM 

Resident  Commissioner,  who  is  the  deputy  of  the  High 
Commissioner  for  South  Africa,  together  with  Assistant 
Commissioners  and  the  recognised  native  chiefs.  The 
Legislative  authority  is  vested  in  the  High  Commissioner, 
and  is  exercised  by  Proclamations,  duly  issued  from  time 
to  time.  Apart  from  the  body  of  law  formed  by  these 
proclamations,  the  regulations  framed  in  virtue  of  them, 
and  the  native  customary  law,  the  law  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  as  it  was  in  1884,  has  effect  so  far  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  territory  permit.  By  the  regulations  in 
force  Courts  of  Justice  of  the  Resident  Commissioner  and 
Assistant  Commissioners  are  established,  and  jurisdiction 
is  conferred  upon  the  recognised  chiefs  in  civil,  and 
within  certain  limits  in  criminal,  cases  between  natives, 
in  which  native  law  may  be  administered.  In  all  cases, 
however,  there  is  a  right  of  appeal  to  the  Resident  Com- 
missioner. The  customary  tribal  authority  of  the  here- 
ditary chiefs  is  further  recognised,  and  their  services  are 
further  utilised,  for  administrative  purposes  by  entrust- 
ing to  them  the  performance  of  police  duties  and  the 
collection  of  the  hut  tax.  For  these  purposes  the  country 
is  divided  into  seven  districts,  which  are  sub-divided 
into  wards ;  and  each  ward  is  presided  over  by  a  native 
chief.  In  return  for  their  judicial  and  other  services  the 
chiefs  receive  a  subsidy  from  the  Administration. 

There  is  a  representative  body,  the  National  Council, 
which,  like  the  National  Assembly  in  Egypt,  has  con- 
sultative and  advisory,  but  not  legislative  powers.  It 
consists  of  about  100  members,  of  whom  a  part  are 
appointed  by  the  Administration  and  a  part  nominated 
by  the  people  themselves,  and  it  meets  once  a  year.  This 
useful  institution,  which  is  a  recent  creation,  has  grown 
out  of  the  "  pitso,"  or  annual  assemblage  of  all  the  tribes- 
men, which  is  the  customary  "parliament" — in  the 
literal  sense  of  a  gathering  at  which  each  tribesman 
could  speak  what  was  in  his  mind,  whether  concerning  a 

213 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

personal  grievance  or  a  question  of  peace  or  war — of  the 
industrial  Bantu.  In  Basutoland  the  "  pitso,"  in  the 
form  of  an  annual,  or  special,  assemblage  of  the  people 
in  the  open  veld,  was  maintained  from  the  first  by  the 
Resident  Commissioner,  and  it  survives  in  the  more 
convenient  and  efficient  gathering  which  meets  now  in  the 
new  Council  House. 

In  Basutoland  all  land  is  the  property  of  the  tribe 
not  of  the  individual,  and  is  occupied  on  tribal  tenure. 
Plots  of  arable  land  are  allotted  for  the  time  being  by  the 
chiefs  among  their  respective  tribesmen,  and  the  grazing 
land  of  the  tribe  provides  common  pasturage  for  the  cattle 
of  all  its  members.  No  Europeans  are  allowed  to  reside 
permanently  in  the  territory  except  such  as  have  approved 
business,  and,  in  the  case  of  traders,  have  obtained  the 
necessary  licence  to  trade.  These  European  residents 
cannot,  of  course,  purchase  any  land,  but  they  are  allowed 
to  occupy  it ;  and  while  any  house  or  buildings  they  may 
place  upon  it  are  erected  at  their  own  risk,  in  practice 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  the  transfer  of  such  buildings  by 
sale  or  otherwise  to  another  European  resident. 

The  cost  of  administration  is  defrayed  by  a  hut  tax 
of  £1,  the  customs  duties  collected  at  the  ports  and  rebated 
by  the  Union  authorities,  and  by  licences  to  trade.  Of 
these  three  forms  of  taxation,  the  last  is  levied  only  upon 
Europeans,  the  hut  tax  is  the  ordinary  direct  tax  paid 
by  the  natives  of  South  Africa,  and  the  customs  duties 
are  an  indirect  tax  which  falls  alike  upon  the  European  and 
native  purchaser  of  oversea  imports.  In  the  fiscal  year 
1909-10  the  revenue  of  the  territory  amounted  to 
£119,974,  of  which  approximately  two-thirds  was  con- 
tributed by  the  hut  tax,  and  one-third  by  customs. 
The  expenditure  for  the  same  year  was  £127,437,  of  which 
total  £12,240  was  expended  on  education.  The  Police 
Force,  292  strong,  is  composed  of  European  officers 
with  native  non-commissioned  officers  and  men.  It  is 

214 


INDUSTRIES  AND  EDUCATION 

fully  mounted  and  equipped,  and  is  posted  round  the 
borders  of  Basutoland,  principally  at  the  various  magis- 
tracies, where  the  Assistant-Commissioners  hold  their 
courts. * 

The  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  is 
strictly  enforced.  Not  only  is  the  sale  (or  supply)  of 
such  liquors  to  natives  punished  by  severe  penalties, 
but  no  spirituous  liquor  is  allowed  to  enter  the  territory 
without  a  permit.  The  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  to  natives,  which  is  almost  universal 
throughout  British  South  Africa,  is  based  upon  the  fact, 
established  by  long  experience,  that  "  the  native  is  con- 
stitutionally incapable  of  being  a  moderate  drinker, 
and  that  he  must  either  abstain  entirely  or  the  chances 
are  that  he  will  drink  to  excess,  and  when  in  drink  all 
the  failings  of  his  nature  assert  themselves/'  2  The  use 
of  the  native,  or  Kafir,  beer,  provided  it  does  not  contain 
4  per  cent,  of  spirit,  is,  however,  generally  permitted, 
and  indeed  recommended  as  a  preventive  against  scurvy 
and  kindred  complaints ;  and  this  beverage  is  largely 
made  and  drunk  by  the  Basutos. 

The  main  industry  of  the  territory  is  agriculture,  and 
apart  from  the  grain  required  for  home  consumption 
large  quantities  of  wheat,  oats,  and  Kafir  corn,  or  mealies, 
besides  wool,  mohair,  and  hides,  are  exported.  The 
country  being  well  adapted  for  stock-raising,  the  Govern- 
ment is  endeavouring  to  improve  the  stock  of  the  natives 
by  the  distribution  of  well-bred  sheep  and  goat-rams, 
and  by  the  introduction  of  stallions.  As  South  Africa, 
as  a  whole,  has  never  yet  succeeded  in  producing  all  the 
food  supplies  required  for  its  own  consumption,  the 
Basutoland  export  of  wheat  is  proportionately  welcome. 
And  no  less  valuable,  in  view  of  the  chronic  shortage  of 
African  labour,  is  the  service  which  the  territory  performs 

1  Union  Blue  Book  on  Native  Affairs,  for  1910. 

2  Report  of  Native  Affairs  Commission,  1903-5. 

215 

15— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

in  sending  out  its  surplus  of  adult  males  to  work  in  the 
industrial  centres  of  the  Union.  The  following  figures, 
taken  from  the  report  of  the  Native  Affairs  Commission 
of  1903-5,  will  show  the  capacity  of  the  territory  in  this 
respect.  Out  of  a  total  (native)  population  of  347,731 
in  1904,  it  was  estimated  that  86,933  were  males  over 
fifteen  years  of  age,  of  whom  49,676  were  married, 
37,257  unmarried,  and  69,546  were  between  the  ages  of 
fifteen  and  forty  ;  of  these  latter,  35,186  might  be  expected 
to  be  at  work  at  any  one  time,  and  since  Basutoland 
itself  demanded  only  2,000,  the  surplus  available  for 
labour  outside  the  territory  was  over  33,000.  In  the 
year  1910,  82,000  passes  were  taken  out  for  labour 
employment  outside  the  territory  ;  and  of  the  men  who 
thus  left  32,000  went  to  the  mines  in  the  Free  State  and 
Transvaal. 

As  we  have  noticed  before,  Basutoland  is  one  of  the 
most  successful  fields  of  missionary  enterprise.  Of  the 
250  schools  in  the  territory,  all,  with  the  exception  of  two 
small  Government  schools,  are  worked  by  various 
missionary  societies,  and  the  great  majority  of  them  belong 
to  the  Paris  Evangelical  Mission.  In  addition  to  the 
elementary  schools  a  training  college  for  native  teachers 
at  Mori j a,  and  an  industrial  school  at  Roma,  have  been 
provided.  In  this  latter  the  boys  are  taught  stone- 
cutting,  building,  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  tailoring, 
and  other  trades,  and  the  girls  spinning,  weaving,  and 
cooking.  All  these  mission  schools  are  subsidised  by 
the  Administration.  In  the  matter  of  education — that 
is,  of  course,  native  education — Basutoland  stands  second 
to  the  Cape  Province.  In  1904,  according  to  the  Native 
Affairs  Commission,  1903-5,  there  were  10,484  scholars, 
or  3-01  per  cent,  of  the  Basuto  population,  in  schools, 
as  against  4-24  of  the  native  population  in  the  Cape, 
M3  in  the  Transvaal,  M2  in  Natal,  and  2*76  in  the 
Free  State ;  and  in  the  same  year  the  Administration 

216 


BECHUANALAND 

spent  £7,000  on  education  out  of  the  £60,528  contributed 
to  the  revenue  by  the  hut  tax.  In  the  year  1909-10 
the  average  attendance  at  schools  was  9,718  and  the 
number  of  teachers  352.  The  enrolment  of  pupils  in 
the  elementary  schools  of  the  territory  in  December, 
1909,  was  as  given  below. 

Mission.                           Boys.  Girls.  Total. 

Paris  Missionary  Society  ..4,993  6,044  ..       11,037 

Church  of  England          ..  ..646  844  ..        1,490 

Roman  Catholic   .                                185  667  852 


Totals        5,824  7,555       ..      13,379 

The  capital,  Maseru,  which  is  the  residence  of  the 
Resident  Commissioner  and  the  seat  of  the  Administra- 
tion, is  connected  by  rail  with  the  Free  State,  and  has  a 
population  of  1,400,  of  whom  some  200  are  Europeans. 
There  are  telegraph  offices  here  and  at  Mafeting,  Morija 
and  some  half-dozen  less  important  places,  and  a  general 
service  of  Posts  has  been  organised.  A  telephone  line 
runs  from  the  capital  to  all  government  stations  through- 
out the  territory.  The  usual  mode  of  conveyance  is 
an  ox-wagon  or  light  cart.  The  roads  have  been  made 
serviceable  for  all  forms  of  transport,  but  they  are  subject 
to  serious  damage  from  the  overflow  drainage  of  the  high 
watersheds  during  the  periodical  rains. 

THE  BECHUANALAND  PROTECTORATE 

The  Bechuanaland  Protectorate  stretches  from  the 
northern  border  of  the  Cape  Province,  between  German 
South-West  Africa  on  the  west  and  the  Transvaal  on  the 
east,  to  the  southern  border  of  Rhodesia  and  the  Zambezi. 
Being  part  of  the  great  central  plateau  of  South  Africa, 
it  has  an  average  elevation  of  over  3,000  feet,  and  its 
general  character  is  that  of  an  almost  waterless  region 
of  sandy  wastes  whose  sole  vegetation  is  the  camel-thorn 
and  the  wild  melon.  Its  area,  275,000  square  miles,  is 

217 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

twice  as  large  as  that  of  the  Transvaal ;  and  scattered 
over  this  vast  expanse  of  territory  a  population  of  140,000 
natives  and  1,000  Europeans  is  to  be  found  in  the  few 
fertile  districts,  or  along  the  line  of  the  railway  which 
traverses  it  from  Maf eking  in  the  south  to  the  Rhodesian 
border  on  the  north.  The  sole  value  of  the  territory  lies 
in  its  geographical  position.  To-day  it  forms  the 
highway  from  the  Cape  Province  to  Rhodesia,  while  its 
western  deserts  serve  as  a  natural  barrier  between  British 
and  German  territory  ;  and  at  the  time  when,  in  1884, 
a  British  protectorate  was  first  proclaimed  over  it,  its 
strategical  importance  was  much  greater.  The  cir- 
cumstances in  which  this  step  was  taken  by  the  British 
Government  have  been  related  before,  as  a  significant 
episode  in  the  history  of  British  rule  in  South  Africa  ;  x 
and  all  that  need  be  added  to  the  facts  then  placed  before 
the  reader  is,  that  certain  portions  of  the  original  Protec- 
torate, as  it  remained  after  the  southern  portion,  i.e., 
the  "  Crown  Colony  of  Bechuanaland,"  had  been  annexed 
to  the  Cape  Colony  in  1895,  were  subsequently  trans- 
ferred to  Rhodesia.  This  arrangement  was  in  part  a 
compensation  to  the  Chartered  Company  for  the  loss  of 
its  administrative  powers  over  the  Protectorate,  which, 
as  we  have  seen, 2  was  one  of  the  immediate  results  of  the 
Jameson  Raid. 

The  territory  is  governed  by  a  Resident  Commissioner, 
with  two  Assistant-Commissioners,  under  the  direction 
of  the  High  Commissioner  for  South  Africa,  and  the 
services  of  the  native  chiefs  are  utilised  for  administra- 
tive purposes  even  more  largely  than  in  Basutoland. 
The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  the  High  Commissioner, 
and  exercised  by  proclamation,  but  subject  to  this 
special  legislation  the  law  of  the  Cape  Colony  obtains 
so  far  as  the  circumstances  of  the  country  permit. 

1  Part  I,  Chap.  II,  p.  42,  and  Chap.  VI,  p.  115. 
*  Part  III,  Chap.  I,  p.  187. 

218 


PEOPLE  AND   PRODUCTS 

The  people  are  industrial  Bantu,  who  live  on  Reserves 
held  under  communal  tenure.  The  six  principal  chiefs 
are :  Khama,  Sechele,  Gaseitsive,  Linchwe,  Mathibe, 
and  Baitlotle,  and  their  respective  tribes,  over  which 
they  rule,  the  Bamangwato,  Bakwena,  Bangwaketsi, 
Bakhatla,  Batawana,  and  Bamalete.  The  chiefs  have 
judicial  powers  in  both  civil  and  criminal  suits.  In 
cases  between  natives  native  law  is  administered ;  but 
there  is  a  right  of  appeal  to  courts  of  the  Assistant-Com- 
missioners, and  a  right  of  final  appeal  to  the  Court  of  the 
Resident  Commissioner.  Cases  between  natives  and 
Europeans  can  be  tried  by  consent  of  the  European 
suitor  in  the  Chiefs'  courts  ;  and  in  this  case  no  appeal 
lies  from  the  chief's  decision.  Otherwise,  mixed  cases 
are  taken  by  the  Commissioners. 

Of  these  tribes  the  most  important  are  the  Bamangwato 
and  the  Bakhatla,  ruled  respectively  by  Khama  and 
Linchwe.  The  former  of  these  chiefs,  Khama,  has  been 
described l  as  affording  an  instance  of  the  administrative 
ability  which  is  sometimes  to  be  found  in  persons  of  the 
Bantu  race,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  he  has 
again  removed  his  people — on  this  occasion  from  Palapwe 
to  Serowe,  where  there  is  a  European  settlement.  It 
must  also  be  remembered  that  it  was  among  the  peaceable 
and  industrious  Bechuanas  that  Robert  Moffat,  David 
Livingstone,  and  John  Mackenzie  obtained  the  most 
notable  results  of  their  evangelistic  labours. 

The  insufficient  rainfall  and  poverty  of  the  soil  make 
agriculture  difficult,  but  a  small  quantity  of  grain  over  and 
above  what  is  needed  for  home  consumption  is  grown 
and  exported  to  Kimberley  and  Johannesburg.  The 
main  industry,  however,  is  cattle-ranching,  since  cattle, 
sheep  and  goats  can  thrive  on  the  small  bushes  which 
cover  the  limestone  areas  of  hard  ground  :  and  a  con- 
siderable export  of  cattle,  apart  from  surplus  labour, 

1  Part  I,  Chap.  II,  p.  34. 

219 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

forms  practically  the  only  contribution  of  the  Protectorate 
to  the  general  resources  of  South  Africa.  Its  surplus 
of  African  labourers,  according  to  the  Native  Affairs 
Report  of  1903-5,  is  about  9,000 ;  that  is  to  say,  out  of 
a  total  of  12,083  adult  males,  who  might  be  expected 
to  be  at  work  at  any  one  time,  only  3,000  are  required 
within  the  territory.  The  total  exports  amounted  in 
1909  to  £123,627  in  value,  and  the  imports  to  £96,096. 
The  seat  of  the  Administration  is  placed  for  convenience 
at  Mafeking,  just  within  the  Cape  Province,  but  the 
principal  European  settlements  are  Gaberones,  Francis- 
town,  and  Serowe.  The  expenditure  of  the  Adminis- 
tration in  1910-11  amounted  to  £70,875,  of  which  some 
two-thirds  was  provided  by  the  revenue,  while  the  balance 
was  made  up  by  grants  from  the  Imperial  Exchequer. 
The  two  main  sources  of  revenue  are  (1)  the  hut  tax  of 
£1,  which  is  collected  by  the  native  chiefs,  and  amounted 
to  close  upon  £30,000  in  1910-11,  and  (2)  the  customs, 
amounting  in  1909  to  £10,543.  The  Bechuanaland 
Protectorate,  unlike  Basutoland,  has  an  annual  deficit  of 
some  £20,000  ;  and  to  this  slight  extent  it  adds  to  the 
burdens  of  the  British  taxpayer. 

SWAZILAND 

Swaziland  lies  between  the  Transvaal  on  the  north  and 
west,  Mozambique  on  the  east,  and  Natal  on  the  east  and 
south.  It  is  a  small  territory  with  an  area  of  6,536 
square  miles,  and  a  population  of  some  90,000  natives 
and  about  1,000  Europeans.  Westward,  the  territory 
is  of  the  same  character  as  the  high  veld  of  the  Transvaal, 
being  in  fact  a  terrace  raised  to  an  average  height  of 
5,000  feet  above  sea  level,  with  a  temperate  climate  and 
well  watered  pasturage  :  eastward,  where  the  land  falls 
to  only  1,000  feet  above  sea  level  and  then  rises  again 
in  the  Lebombo  range,  the  country  is  freely  clothed 
with  tropical  bush,  and  here  in  the  summer,  or  rainy 

220 


SWAZILAND 

season,   the   climate   is  unhealthy  for  Europeans,   and 
dangerous  for  horses,  mules,  and  cattle. 

The  Swazis  belong  to  the  Zulu-speaking  group  of  mili- 
tary Bantu,  and  although  their  country  was  never  incor- 
porated into  the  South  African  Republic,  it  had  come  to 
be  administered  by  the  Boers  under  Transvaal  law  at  the 
time  that  the  great  South  African  war  broke  out.  The 
circumstances  which  led  to  this  result  are  characteristic 
of  the  difficulties  by  which  the  British  Government  has 
been  beset  in  its  endeavour  to  do  justice  alike  to  the 
Dutch  and  natives  in  South  Africa.  In  the  days  of 
Ketchwayo's  power,  Sir  Theophilus  Shepstone  earned  the 
gratitude  of  the  Swazis  by  preventing  the  Zulu  king  from 
"  washing  his  spears  "  amongst  them  ;  and  in  the  Zulu 
war  they  declared  themselves  to  be  the  allies  of  the 
British.  In  the  final  operations  of  this  war,  the  storming 
of  the  stronghold  of  Secocoeni,  Ketchwayo's  "  dog," 
Lord  Wolseley  was  assisted  by  a  contingent  of  8,000 
Swazis.  When  the  Transvaal  was  given  back  to  the 
Boers,  the  independence  of  the  Swazis  was  secured  under 
both  the  Pretoria  (1881)  and  London  (1884)  Conventions. 
The  Boer  farmers,  however,  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of 
"  trekking "  with  their  cattle  into  Swaziland,  where, 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  great  mountain  ranges,  they 
found  the  grass  green  and  luxuriant  at  a  season  when 
their  own  pastures  were  dry  and  bare.  Originally  this 
was  done  under  grazing  leases  obtained  from  the  Swazis, 
but  subsequently  the  Boers  established  themselves 
permanently  across  the  border  in  Swaziland,  as  they  had 
attempted  to  do  in  Bechuanaland.  More  than  this, 
when,  in  1883,  gold  was  discovered  in  the  eastern  Trans- 
vaal, and  two  years  later  on  the  Rand,  Swaziland  was 
overrun  by  prospectors  and  European  adventurers, 
who  were  mainly  British.  The  chief,  Umbandine,  being 
an  independent  sovereign  under  the  Conventions,  had 
no  British  resident  to  advise  or  protect  him  in  the  business 

221 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

transactions  which  then  took  place  between  himself 
and  these  adventurers.  Having  a  taste  for  good  living 
and  small  European  luxuries,  he  granted  "  concessions  " 
for  mining,  trading,  and  carrying  on  industrial  under- 
takings of  every  description,  within  his  territory  in  return 
for  wine  or  sweetmeats,  cases  of  gin,  a  trifling  sum  in 
cash,  and  even  less  solid  considerations  than  these. 
Among  many  hundreds  thus  granted  were  concessions 
of  the  sole  right  to  lay  out  townships,  to  practise  as  doc- 
tors, lawyers,  surveyors,  etc.,  to  levy  taxes  of  any  nature 
or  any  amount,  to  advertise,  to  work  posts,  telegraphs 
and  railways,  to  establish  banks,  music-halls,  theatres, 
lotteries,  pounds,  and  markets,  to  take  photographs, 
and,  most  ingenious  of  all — a  concession  of  the  sole  right 
to  obtain  all  unallotted  concessions. 

The  handful  of  Europeans  then  obtained  a  "  charter  " 
from  Umbandine,  in  virtue  of  which  they  elected  a 
committee,  with  judicial  and  administrative  powers,  and 
created  a  petty  republic,  called  the  Little  Free  State. 
Theri  the  chief  fell  ill,  and  the  committee  and  conces- 
sionaires had  to  do  business  with  the  chief's  councillors, 
whose  tenure  of  office  was  rendered  insecure  by  their 
liability  to  be  "  smelt  out  "  for  witchcraft,  and  clubbed 
to  death  with  knob-kerries,  at  the  shortest  notice.  On 
the  chief's  death  in  1889  the  condition  of  Swaziland 
had  become  so  scandalous  as  to  constitute  a  danger  to  the 
peace  of  South  Africa,  and  a  joint  commission,  repre- 
senting the  South  African  Republic  and  the  British 
Government  was  appointed  to  investigate  the  state  of 
affairs  and  suggest  a  remedy.  Out  of  this  commission 
there  resulted  the  Swazi  Convention  of  1890,  under  which 
a  joint  administration,  consisting  of  three  commissioners 
representing  respectively  the  British  Government,  the 
Transvaal  and  the  Swazis  themselves,  was  established. 
This  was  the  time  when  Rhodes  was  endeavouring  to 
bring  the  Transvaal  into  closer  relations  with  the  rest  of 

222 


CONCESSIONS  COMMISSION 

South  Africa,  and  the  Convention,  besides  providing  for 
the  government  of  Swaziland,  gave  President  Kruger 
permission  to  construct  a  railway  from  the  Transvaal  to 
the  coast  at  Kosi  Bay,  provided  that  the  South  African 
Republic  joined  the  Customs  Union  not  later  than 
August  8th,  1893.  As  the  required  condition  was  not 
fulfilled,  the  Convention  was  denounced.  The  British 
Government  thereupon,  in  1893,  virtually  handed  Swazi- 
land over  to  the  Boers  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  by  annexing 
the  strip  of  land  lying  between  Swaziland  and  the  coast, 
then  called  Tongaland,  effectually  prevented  the  President 
from  obtaining  the  dream  of  his  life — a  port  for  his 
Republic.  As  the  Joint  Commission  of  1889  had  recog- 
nised the  validity  of  Umbandine's  concessions,  in  spite 
of  the  grotesque  character  of  the  majority  of  them,  the 
country,  when  it  reverted  to  the  British  Government  with 
the  annexation  of  the  Transvaal  in  1900,  was  found  to  be 
in  a  state  of  apparently  inextricable  confusion.  Lord 
Milner,  in  these  circumstances,  wisely  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  concession  holders  and  other  interested 
parties  to  the  application  of  certain  general  principles, 
before  he  allowed  a  commission  to  undertake  the  task 
of  sifting  the  concessions,  adjudicating  upon  conflicting 
claims,  and  harmonising  the  rights  of  individuals  with 
those  of  the  native  and  European  communities.  In  this 
way  it  was  understood  before  the  Concessions  Com- 
mission (provided  for  by  the  Swaziland  proclamation  of 
the  High  Commissioner  in  1904)  began  its  labours,  that 
all  concessions  which  either  trenched  upon  the  proper 
sphere  of  the  Government,  or  deprived  the  native  popu- 
lation of  any  material  resources  necessary  for  their  wel- 
fare, were  to  be  bought  out  at  actual  cost  price,  or 
otherwise  expropriated,  and  that  in  the  case  of  grants 
of  land  at  least  one-third  of  the  respective  areas  were 
to  be  reserved  as  the  unalienable  property  of  the  Swazis. 
In  view  of  the  establishment  of  Responsible  Government 

223 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

in  the  Transvaal,  Swaziland  was  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  High  Commissioner  by  order-in-council  of  December 
1st,  1906 ;  and  in  March,  1907,  by  proclamation  of  the 
High  Commissioner,  provision  was  made  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Resident  Commissioner,  with  Assistant-Com- 
missioners, and  for  the  establishment  of  a  Police  Force 
and  a  Court  of  Justice.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  chiefs 
is,  however,  maintained  in  civil  causes  between  natives. 
The  laws  of  the  Transvaal,  subject  to  the  special  legislation 
of  the  territory,  are  in  force.  As  the  paramount  chief, 
Sobhuza,  is  a  boy  of  about  thirteen  years,  his  grand- 
mother acts  as  Regent,  with  the  assistance  of  a  Council 
of  Chiefs. 

The  Concessions  Commission  has  completed  its  report, 
and  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  numerous  concessionaires 
are  in  process  of  adjustment.  A  special  commission, 
appointed  for  the  purpose,  completed  the  demarcation  of 
the  native  reserves  in  1910  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  native 
areas,  the  Crown  Lands,  and  the  mineral  and  grazing 
concessions,  are  now  well  defined  has  stimulated  agri- 
cultural and  mining  development.  At  the  same  time 
the  material  well-being  of  the  native  population  has  been 
improved  very  materially  by  the  establishment  of  a 
settled  government. 

For  the  year  ended  June  30th,  1910,  the  revenue  of  the 
Swaziland  administration  amounted  to  £46,831,  of  which 
£25,602  was  the  yield  of  the  native  tax  ;  and  the  expen- 
diture was  £54,217.  In  the  same  year  the  imports  were 
£44,309  in  value  (of  which  £31,160  was  paid  for  oversea 
merchandise),  and  the  exports  amounted  to  £90,348 ; 
the  chief  items  in  the  latter  being  gold,  £44,499 ;  and 
tin  ore,  £41,768.  Five  gold  mines  and  four  alluvial 
tin  mines,  on  which  2,071  coloured  and  74  white  persons 
were  employed,  were  being  worked  in  1910. 


224 


PART   IV 
INDUSTRIAL    DEVELOPMENT 


CHAPTER    I 

THE   LABOUR   SUPPLY 

SOUTH  AFRICA,  as  we  have  seen,  is  marked  off  from  the 
other  dominions  by  the  presence  of  its  numerically  pre- 
dominant native  population.  The  difference  between 
South  Africa  and  Canada,  Australia,  or  New  Zealand, 
due  to  this  primary  circumstance,  is  as  great  in  the 
economic  sphere  as  in  the  political.  While  these  other 
dominions,  being  white  countries  like  the  United  Kingdom, 
draw  their  supply  of  unskilled  labour,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, from  their  European  population,  South  Africa 
depends,  and  has  always  depended,  upon  coloured  people 
for  the  performance  of  all  tasks  of  mere  manual  labour. 
And  side  by  side  with  this  primary  circumstance  there  is 
the  no  less  significant  fact,  that  the  native  or  indigenous 
population  of  South  Africa,  although  many  times  as 
numerous  as  the  European  Colonists,  has  never  sufficed 
to  provide  the  Europeans  with  all  the  unskilled  labour 
that  they  required  for  their  various  industries. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  foundation  of  the  Cape  Colony 
under  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  the  principle  was 
laid  down,  that  the  white  man  must  not  do  mere  manual 
labour  but  leave  all  such  tasks  to  the  natives.  Directly 
a  serious  commencement  of  industry  was  made,  in  the 
era  of  the  Van  der  Stells,  it  was  found  that  the  indigenous 
coloured  population  could  not  supply  the  unskilled 
labour  needed  for  the  vineyards  and  the  farms,  and  for 
the  everyday  service  of  the  European  community,  and 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company  thereupon  imported 

225 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Malays  from  their  East  Indian  possessions,  and  slaves 
from  Central  Africa,  to  supplement  the  Hottentot  labour 
supply.  In  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  the  industrial  development  of  the  sub-continent 
began  in  earnest,  the  sugar  and  tea  growers  of  Natal 
brought  indentured  coolies  from  India  to  work  their 
plantations ;  and  later  on  the  Dutch  farmers  of  the 
western  districts  of  the  Cape  Colony  made  proposals  to 
the  Government  of  the  day  for  the  introduction  of  Chinese 
labour.  The  Diamond  Mines  at  Kimberley  were  able  to 
attract  sufficient  native  labour ;  since,  owing  to  the 
exceptional  profits  of  the  industry,  they  could  afford 
to  offer  wages,  which  were  in  some  cases  ten  times  as 
high  as  those  paid  by  the  farmers — at  that  time  practically 
their  only  competitors.  But  the  gold  mines  of  the  Rand, 
where  the  conditions  of  the  industry  so  far  from  per- 
mitting of  any  such  extraordinary  rates  of  payment, 
demanded  a  rigid  economy  in  the  costs  of  production, 
required  a  new  method  of  supply.  To  meet  the  labour 
demands  of  this  new  and  rapidly  developing  industry, 
a  system  of  recruiting  was  inaugurated.  Labour  agents, 
traversing  the  great  seats  of  native  population  in  Portu- 
guese territory  as  well  as  in  the  South  African  States, 
visited  the  kraals,  and  secured  large  numbers  of  able- 
bodied  workers  who  otherwise  would  never  have  left 
their  homes  to  seek  work  under  a  European  employer. 
By  means  of  this  system,  before  the  war  broke  out  the 
mines  of  the  Witwatersrand  were  provided  with  a  con- 
tinuous supply  of  some  100,000  native  African  labourers. 
These  African  labourers,  it  must  be  remembered,  do 
not  work  year-in  and  year-out  like  the  European  work- 
man ;  they  engage  themselves  for  a  period  of  months 
only — in  the  case  of  the  gold  mines  from  six  to  twelve 
months — and,  when  this  period  of  service  is  completed, 
they  return  to  their  families.  Here  they  remain  until 
the  desire  for  more  money,  or  possibly  the  attraction  of  a 

226 


SHORTAGE    AFTER    THE    WAR 

town  life,  induces  them  to  enlist  for  another  term  of 
service.  To  have  established  a  source  of  supply  sufficient 
to  maintain  the  native  labourers  on  the  mines  at  a  level 
of  100,000,  was,  therefore,  a  very  considerable  achieve- 
ment ;  and  it  is  one  which  bears  testimony  to  the  excep- 
tional energy  and  skill  that  were  possessed  by  the  men 
who  founded  and  developed  the  gold  industry  of  the 
Rand. 

After  the  war  (1899-1902)  there  was  a  shortage  of 
unskilled  labour  all  over  South  Africa ;  and  the  gold 
industry  in  particular,  which  had  become  the  mainspring 
of  the  industrial  system  of  the  sub-continent,  was  threat- 
ened with  "  stagnation."  That  is  to  say,  unless  an 
adequate  supply  of  labour  could  be  found,  instead  of 
developing  beyond  the  £18,000,000  annual  rate  of  output 
reached  in  1899,  its  recovery  would  be  arrested  at  a  rate 
of  £12,000,000  annual  output.  Such  a  result  would 
not  only  have  retarded  most  injuriously  the  political  and 
economic  reconstruction  of  the  New  Colonies  under 
Lord  Milner,  but  have  involved  the  whole  of  South 
Africa  in  financial  disaster.  The  inability  of  the  gold 
industry  to  obtain  African  labour  at  this  time  was  due 
to  three  principal  causes.  In  the  first  place  the  body  of 
100,000  labourers,  gradually  collected  in  the  ten  years 
preceding  the  war,  had  been  scattered  and  could  not  be 
immediately  re-assembled.  In  the  next,  many  of  the 
natives  employed  by  the  military  authorities  during  the 
war  had  earned  large  sums  of  money,  and  on  this  account 
they  were  more  than  usually  reluctant  to  engage  them- 
selves for  service  on  the  mines.  In  the  third  place — and 
this  was  the  most  important  cause — the  declaration  of 
peace  brought  with  it  an  exceptionally  large  demand  for 
unskilled  labour  throughout  South  Africa.  Not  only 
had  all  the  material  destruction  of  the  war  to  be  repaired, 
and  public  buildings,  bridges,  houses,  farms,  roads  and 
railways  to  be  rebuilt  or  reconstructed  ;  but  in  view  of  the 

227 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

industrial  expansion  which  was  expected  to  follow — and 
did  in  fact  follow — the  establishment  of  British  authority 
from  "  Lion's  Head  to  Line,"  the  several  Colonial  Govern- 
ments undertook  the  construction  of  new  railways  and 
other  public  works  upon  a  great  scale.  Speaking  broadly, 
in  the  second  year  of  the  peace  (1903)  South  Africa  required 
at  least  a  third  more  African  labourers  than  she  could 
obtain,  and  the  gold  industry  of  the  Rand,  the  expansion 
of  which  was  a  condition  precedent  to  the  solvency  and 
industrial  prosperity  of  all  the  South  African  Colonies, 
required  not  less  than  double  its  then  available  supply 
of  African  unskilled  labour.  And  of  this  wholly  insuffi- 
cient supply — some  60,000  in  all — more  than  two-thirds 
came  from  Portuguese  territory,  and  not  from  British 
South  Africa  at  all. 

It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  the  responsible 
leaders  of  the  Mining  industry  in  the  Transvaal,  after 
fruitlessly  endeavouring  to  obtain  first  African  labour 
from  all  parts  of  the  continent,  and  then  coolie  labour 
from  India,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  sole  avail- 
able source  from  which  the  African  supply  could  be  supple- 
mented was  China.  Lord  Milner,  having  become  grad- 
ually convinced  of  the  necessity  of  this  course,  at  least 
as  a  temporary  measure,  gave  his  support  to  the  proposal ; 
and,  by  so  doing,  saved  South  Africa  from  an  economic 
crisis  which  would  have  thrown  the  finances  of  the  four 
colonies  into  grave  disorder,  and  brought  widespread 
loss  and  suffering  upon  the  European  communities. 
In  the  last  seven  months  of  the  year  1904  the  gold 
industry  employed  an  average  of  9,668  indentured 
Chinese  labourers ;  in  1905,  39,952 ;  in  1906,  51,427 ; 
in  1907,  49,302 ;  in  1908,  21,027 ;  in  1909,  6,516 ;  and 
in  1910,  in  the  early  months  of  which  year  the  last 
Chinamen  were  repatriated,  it  employed  an  average  of 
305.  As  the  result  of  this  accession  to  the  labour  supply, 
the  output  from  the  Gold  Mines  of  the  Rand  rose  from 

228 


CHINESE   LABOUR 

£12,142,307  in  1903  to  nearly  £29,000,000  in  1908; 
and  the  number  of  white  men  employed  increased  from 
13,207  in  1904  to  17,593  in  1908.  In  the  year  1907  the 
Transvaal  Government,  under  pressure  from  the  Home 
Government,  decided  on  political  grounds  to  put  an  end 
gradually  to  the  employment  of  Chinese  coolies ;  and 
their  decision  was  carried  out,  as  shown  by  the  above 
figures,  before  the  date  of  the  Union  (May  31st,  1910). 
At  the  same  time — the  year  of  the  Union — the  Indian 
Government  determined  to  cut  off  the  supply  of  Indian 
indentured  labour,  upon  which  the  Natal  planters  had 
hitherto  relied  for  working  their  plantations.  The 
Union  of  South  Africa,  therefore,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Malay  population  in  the  Cape  Province,  the  domiciled 
British  Indian  population  in  Natal  and  in  the  Transvaal, 
and  some  miscellaneous  Asiatic  labourers  mainly  in  the 
ports,  intends  to  depend  at  present  upon  its  native 
African  and  other  indigenous  coloured  population  for  its 
supply  of  unskilled  labour. 

The  future  alone  can  show  whether  this  policy,  and  in 
particular  the  decision  to  repatriate  the  Chinese  coolies, 
will  be  justified  by  events.  For  the  present  it  remains 
only  to  undertake  the  somewhat  difficult  task  of  estimat- 
ing the  extent  of  the  unskilled  labour  supply  afforded  by 
the  coloured  population  of  the  Union,  and  to  state  the 
degree  in  which  the  labour  demands  of  the  various 
industries  are  being  satisfied. 

At  the  outset  it  is  necessary  to  recall  the  two  modifying 
circumstances  to  which  the  attention  of  the  reader  has 
been  directed  incidentally  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs. 
Of  these  the  first  is  that  the  greatest  industry  of  South 
Africa,  the  Witwatersrand  Gold  Industry,  to-day  derives 
half  of  its  unskilled  labour  supply  from  countries  outside 
of  the  Union  ;  and  the  second,  that  the  native  and  coloured 
labourer  does  not  work  continuously,  but  intermittently 
and  for  short  periods.  To  say  that  the  adult  males  of  the 

229 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

native  population,  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty, 
may  be  expected  to  provide  the  equivalent  of  ten  years  of 
continuous  service  in  European  employment,  is  probably, 
to  make  a  generous  estimate  of  their  industrial  capacity. 

No  better  point  of  departure  for  an  inquiry  into  the 
nature  of  the  unskilled  labour  supply  of  South  Africa 
can  be  found  than  that  which  is  afforded  by  the  following 
paragraphs,  taken  from  the  report  of  the  Inter-colonial 
Native  Affairs  Commission  of  1903-5.  The  commis- 
sioners are  dealing,  of  course,  with  the  position  as  they 
found  it  in  1904,  and  their  population  figures,  which  are 
those  of  the  census  of  that  year,  include  Southern  Rhodesia 
as  well  as  what  is  now  the  Union,  and  also  the  Native 
Territories  under  the  Imperial  Government.  They 
write  : 

The  calculations  which  have  been  made  show  an  estimated 
constant  demand  of  782,000,  and  an  estimated  continuous  supply 
of  474,472,  showing  a  shortfall  of  307,528  labourers. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  question  naturally  arises,  how 
in  South  Africa  agriculture  or  any  industry  is  carried  on  ?  The 
answer  is  that  when  carried  on  at  all,  it  is  carried  on  under  diffi- 
culties, as  to  which  there  is  abundant  evidence.  The  British 
South  African  aboriginal  native  has  not  fully  met  the  labour 
requirements  of  the  country.  There  is  no  doubt  that  were  these 
natives  alone  to  be  relied  upon,  South  African  industries  could 
at  present  only  be  worked  at  half  power.  Native  labour  has 
had  to  be  supplemented  by  the  employment  of  Africans  imported 
from  other  parts  of  Africa,  Indians  and  Chinese.  In  the  latest 
report  of  the  Government  Mining  Engineer  of  the  Transvaal,  it 
is  mentioned  that  of  the  natives  employed  in  mines  there,  only 
15  per  cent,  were  British  Africans.  .  .  . 

There  are  many  causes  which  may  be  deemed  to  have  pro- 
duced this  situation.  .  .  .  One  half  of  the  native  population 
lives  on  reserves.  The  bulk  of  these  occupy  land  for  the  most 
part  communally  and  free  of  charge  except  hut  or  poll  tax, 
upon  which  it  is  possible  for  them  in  some  fashion  or  other  to 
make  a  living  as  agriculturists  or  peasant  proprietors,  without 
the  necessity,  excepting  in  exceptionally  bad  seasons,  of  earning 
wages. 

With  regard  to  those  who  do  not  live  on  the  reserves,  and  who 
have,  either  from  personal  motives  or  by  reason  of  compelling 
circumstances,  occupied  either  Crown  Lands  or  the  lands  of 
private  owners  upon  payment  of  rent,  it  may  be  said  that  this 

230 


NATIVE    AFRICAN    LABOUR 

portion  of  the  population  has  continued  to  be  able  to  farm,  on  a 
small  scale  indeed,  but  with  sufficient  measure  of  return  to  enable 
them  to  supply  their  own  small  wants  and  pay  such  rent  and 
taxes  as  have  been  demanded  from  them. 

Both  the  above  classes  of  natives  have  had  access  to  the  land 
on  terms  which  have  enabled  them  to  regard  work  for  wages  as 
a  mere  supplement  to  their  means,  and  not  as  it  is  regarded  in 
the  older  industrial  communities,  namely,  as  the  urgent  con- 
dition under  which  the  majority  of  mankind  earn  their  daily 
bread. 

The  theory  that  the  South  African  natives  are  hopelessly 
indolent  may  be  dismissed  as  being  not  in  accordance  with  the 
facts.  Even  the  simple  wants  of  the  native  population  cannot 
be  supplied  without  some  degree  of  exertion.  The  population 
of  4,652,662  has  to  derive  its  sustenance  from  a  soil  which  is 
not  everywhere  fertile,  and  the  native  agriculturist  has  to  con- 
tend with  the  same  drawbacks  of  drought  and  pestilence  that 
beset  the  European  farmer.  The  labour  of  tilling  the  soil, 
weeding,  and  reaping,  is  shared,  but  is  by  no  means  exclusively 
performed,  by  the  native  women  ;  and  the  representation  of  the 
native  living  at  his  own  village  a  lazy  and  luxurious  life,  sup- 
ported by  his  wife  or  wives,  is  misleading.  The  Commission  is 
not  of  opinion  that  polygamy  has  any  considerable  effect  upon 
the  native  question  in  retarding  the  development  of  the  native 
as  a  worker. 

The  main  reasons  for  the  existence  of  the  labour  difficulties 
may  be  summarised  as  follows  : 

The  native  populations  have  always  been  pastoral  and 
agricultural. 

The  rapid  increase  of  South  African  labour  requirements, 
particularly  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  [i.e.,  from  1880 
to  1905],  has  found  them  to  a  great  extent  unprepared  to  meet 
the  new  conditions  which  surround  them. 

The  normal  condition  of  native  life  is  that  of  a  small  cultivator 
and  herdsman,  and  the  circumstances  of  their  history  have  never 
developed  among  them  a  class  accustomed  to,  and  dependent 
upon,  continuous  daily  labour. 

The  inexpensiveness  of  their  living,  the  limited  nature  of  their 
wants,  and  the  comparative  absence  of  incentive  to  labour. 

The  terms  on  which  they  occupy  land. 

Given  such  a  population,  possessing  easy  access  to  the  land, 
it  would  have  been  extraordinary  if  the  present  situation  had 
not  followed  on  a  very  rapid  growth  of  industrial  requirements.  x 

This,  then,  was  the  position  in  1905,  as  it  appeared  to 
the  most  experienced  and  capable  observers.  The  remarks 

1  Cd.    2,399,  pars.  368-375. 

231 

16— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

here  made  as  to  the  conditions  and  general  character 
of  the  native  population  are  as  valid  now  as  they  were 
seven  years  ago  ;  but  certain  causes,  which  will  be  noted 
subsequently,  have  united  to  make  the  available  supply 
of  native  and  coloured  unskilled  labour  to-day  much 
more  adequate  to  the  industrial  demands  of  South 
Africa.  Taking  the  census  of  1911,  we  find  that  on  May 
7th,  of  that  year  the  total  "  other  than  white  "  population 
of  the  Union  was  4,680,474,  and  the  "  native  "  population, 
the  largest  constituent  of  the  total,  was  4,061,082.  The 
European  population  at  the  same  date  was  1,278,025  ; 
and  the  number  of  "  all  other  coloured  races  "  apart  from 
"  natives  "  was  619,392.  As  against  the  census  of  1904, 
these  returns  show  that  in  the  intervening  seven  years 
the  native  population  of  the  Union  alone  had  increased 
by  565,978,  while  the  other  coloured  races  had  added  a 
further  55,478.  Since  1904,  therefore,  there  has  been  a 
considerable  increase  by  natural  increment  in  the  popu- 
lation from  which  the  Union  draws  its  supply  of  unskilled 
labour. 

We  have  next  to  observe  how  this  native  population  is 
distributed  throughout  the  Union,  and  what  proportion 
of  it  is  available  for  undertaking  work  under  European 
employers.  These  questions  can  only  be  answered  in 
very  general  terms ;  but  the  best  basis  of  information 
on  the  subject  is  that  which  is  furnished  by  the  table  on 
p.  233.  It  must  be  noticed,  however,  that  the  figures 
here  given  are  estimates  only,  since  the  table  was 
compiled  before  the  census  of  1911  was  taken  ;  and  that 
whereas  the  table  puts  the  native  population  of  the  Union 
at  3,862,839,  it  was  actually  found  to  be  4,061,082  on 
May  7th,  1911.  The  figures  in  the  table  are,  therefore, 
probably  in  all  cases  somewhat  smaller  than  the  actual 
returns  would  have  given. 

From  this  we  see  that  the  native  population  of  the 
Union  is  divided  broadly  into  three  groups. 

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THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

1.  Some  2,000,000  living  on  Locations  (or  Reserves)  ; 

2.  About   1,750,000  living  on  Private  Lands,  Crown 
Lands,  and  on  Mission  Reserves  ;  and 

3.  Some  200,000  living  in  towns  and  town  areas,  and 
presumably  working  for  European  employers. 

As  regards  the  first  group,  the  conditions  under  which 
they  live  are  excellently  stated  in  the  paragraphs  quoted 
above  from  the  Report  of  the  Native  Affairs  Commission 
of  1903-5.  They  live  by  agriculture  on  lands  specially 
reserved  for  their  occupation  by  successive  governments, 
and  they  have  no  necessity  to  seek  other  employment, 
except  in  exceptionally  bad  seasons. 

As  regards  the  second  group,  the  conditions  of  natives 
living  on  Crown  Lands  and  on  Mission  Reserves  do  not 
differ  greatly  from  those  of  the  first  group.  As  tenants 
of  Crown  Lands,  however,  all  adult  males  are  required 
to  pay  a  small  sum  annually  by  way  of  rent  to  the  Govern- 
ment. But  the  bulk  of  the  population  included  in  this 
group  are  natives  living  on  the  land  of  private  proprietors, 
and  this  class,  amounting  to  1,500,000,  is  almost  as 
numerous  as  the  first  group.  It  is  upon  these  native 
tenants,  or  squatters,  that  the  European  farmers  of  the 
Union  depend  chiefly  for  the  labour  with  which  they 
work  their  farms.  It  is  a  class,  therefore,  which  holds 
a  definite  and  important  place  in  the  economic  system 
of  the  Union,  and  as  such  it  must  be  described  with  some 
fullness. 

In  the  majority  of  cases  the  native  who  lives  on  private 
lands  gives  the  proprietor  some  two  or  three  months' 
labour  in  the  year  in  return  for  his  holding.  But  this  is 
by  no  means  a  universal  rule,  since  in  some  cases  the 
European  owner  allows  the  native  to  occupy  and  cultivate 
land  in  consideration  of  his  (the  owner)  receiving  an 
agreed-upon  portion  of  the  produce ;  while  in  others 
the  native  pays  a  regular  rent  in  money.  The  general 
conditions  of  the  squatting  native,  and  the  part  he  plays 

234 


FARM    LABOUR 

in  South  African  agriculture,  are  well  stated  by  Mr.  W. 
Windham,  who  was  secretary  for  Native  Affairs  in  the 
Transvaal  up  to  the  time  of  the  Union,  in  his  final  report 
dated  July  15th,  1910.  What  Mr.  Windham  writes 
refers,  of  course,  primarily  to  the  Transvaal  province ; 
but  with  the  necessary  allowance  for  provincial  variations 
it  may  be  taken  as  applicable  to  the  Union  as  a  whole. 
After  remarking  that  there  is  a  serious  dearth  of  native 
labour  for  Agriculture  in  the  Transvaal — a  circumstance 
which  is  due  chiefly  to  the  "  constant  and  increasing 
demand  for  unskilled  labour  in  the  gold,  diamond,  tin, 
and  coal  mines  "  of  this  province — he  writes  : 1 

In  a  general  sense,  farm  labour  is  regulated  by  an  oral  or  by 
a  written  agreement  between  the  European  proprietor  and  the 
native,  who  is  almost  invariably  in  the  position  of  a  tenant- 
at-will. 

In  consideration  for  his  right  to  live  upon  a  farm,  the  native 
undertakes  to  render  certain  services  to  the  owner. 

The  terms  of  agreement  may  differ  very  widely  from  one 
another.  As  a  rule,  about  two  or  three  months'  work  without 
wage  is  required  in  lieu  of  rent — it  being  a  matter  of  mutual 
arrangement  between  the  parties  when  the  labour  shall  be 
rendered.  In  other  cases,  work  for  a  similar  period  might  be 
provided  for — at  current  rate  of  agricultural  wages — the  native 
consenting  to  pay  rent  for  his  tenancy.  Again,  there  may  be 
a  compact  under  which  the  native  is  allowed  to  cultivate  as 
much  land  as  he  can,  the  European  owner  taking  a  half  share 
on  the  crops  produced. 

In  all  such  cases  the  native  is  allowed  the  free  use  of  the 
land  for  his  own  cultivation,  grazing  and  dwelling. 

All  agreements  are  subject  to  three  months'  notice  of  termina- 
tion on  either  side,  and  to  a  right  on  the  part  of  the  native  to 
reap  any  of  his  standing  crops. 

Permitted  as  they  are  to  cultivate  land  for  their  own  use, 
practically  all  native  labour  tenants  provide  themselves  with 
their  own  food,  which  is  prepared  by  their  women  folk.  The 
principal  articles  of  diet  are  Indian  corn  (commonly  known  as 
"  the  mealie  "),  pumpkins,  and  potatoes.  Sour  milk  is  freely 
used  by  those  in  possession  of  cattle,  whilst  a  beer  made  from 

1  Report  of  the  Transvaal  Native  Affairs  Department,  July  1st, 
1909,  to  May  3 Is/,  1910  (Pretoria). 

235 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Kafir  corn  is  consumed  both  as  a  beverage  and  as  a  nutritious 
food.  Meals  are  ordinarily  taken  twice  a  day. 

Farm  labour  is  given  under  the  circumstances  already  stated, 
or,  where  payment  is  made,  it  ranges  between  £1  and  £2  10s. 
a  month. 

There  are  about  552,000  natives  living  on  private  farms,  which 
is  over  58  per  cent,  of  the  entire  native  population  [of  the 
Transvaal]. 

With  a  few  exceptions,  males  only  from  10  to  45  years  of 
age  enter  service  on  farms. 

It  has  already  been  observed  that  the  supply  is  short  of  the 
demand  nearly  all  over  the  Transvaal.  The  deficiency  can  only 
be  met  by  satisfying  the  ever-increasing  demands  of  the  mining 
industry,  which  maintains  a  large  establishment  to  recruit  labour 
from  every  available  source  in  South  and  Central  Africa.  The 
recruiting  agencies,  so  far  as  the  Transvaal  is  concerned,  are 
governed  by  Labour  Agents'  Regulations. 

Agricultural  labour  is  drawn  almost  entirely  from  the  farm 
resident  population.  Each  proprietor,  that  is  to  say,  draws  his 
requirements  from  his  own  native  tenantry,  and  can  rarely 
obtain  labour  otherwise. 

There  are  no  institutions  for  the  special  education  of  farm 
labourers.  At  a  few  of  the  mission  schools  in  receipt  of  Govern- 
ment grants-in-aid  the  pupils  are  being  taught  the  rudiments  of 
agricultural  work,  but  only  in  a  very  small  way.  The  training 
thus  received  has  not  yet  reached  a  stage  at  which  it  can  be 
said  to  be  of  any  practical  benefit  to  the  farmer. 

There  is  no  system  of  insurance  for  labourers,  except  in  the 
mines,  where  natives  are  insured  by  the  Industry  against  partial 
or  total  disablement  and  death. 

The  third  group  consists  of  the  200,000  natives  who  are, 
so  to  speak,  in  regular  employment  in  the  towns.  This 
group,  together  with  the  "  coloured  "  population  formed 
by  the  descendants  of  the  yellow-skinned  Hottentots, 
by  half-castes,  and  by  various  minglings  of  races,  provides 
the  manual  labour  required  for  the  municipal  services, 
for  the  docks  at  the  ports,  and  in  general,  for  the  needs  of 
public  and  private  employers  in  towns,  including  in  part 
those  of  domestic  service. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  manual  labour 
required  for  industries  other  than  agriculture,  and  for 
the  construction  of  any  exceptional  public  works,  must 
come  mainly  from  the  first  group  :  i.e.,  the  2,000,000 

236 


LABOUR   FOR   INDUSTRIES 


natives  living  on  reserves  in  the  several  provinces  of  the 
Union.  Always  remembering  that  the  Rand  Gold  Indus- 
try draws  half  of  its  supply  of  African  labour  from  coun- 
tries outside  the  Union,  and  that  the  natives  engage 
themselves  for  periods  of  months,  not  for  continuous 
employment,  the  following  table  will  give  a  general 
idea  of  the  amount  of  the  unskilled  labour  supply  to  be 
expected  from  this  source. 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  RETURN  OF  PASSES  ISSUED  TO  NATIVES 
TO  LEAVE  THEIR  DISTRICTS  IN  SEARCH  OF  EMPLOYMENT  DURING 

THE  YEAR  ENDED  SlST  DECEMBER,    1910 

(These  figures  refer  to  natives  leaving  to  obtain  work  both  within 
the  province,  outside  the  province,  and  outside  the  Union,  with 
the  exception  of  Natal  and  Zululand,  where  magistrates  keep 
no  record  of  labourers  employed  within  the  province.) 


Number 
of  Passes 
issued. 

Observations. 

The  Cape  Proper 

78,382 

;24,792  left  for  the  Rand  Mines, 

and    11,415    for    Kimberley 

Mines.] 

Transkeian  Territories  . 

79,377 

[50,886  of  these  left  for  the 

Mines  of  the  Rand.] 

Natal  Proper        .  . 

37,428 

[14,920   of  these  left  for  the 

Mines  of  the  Rand.] 

Zululand        

14,940 

;3,824  for  the  Rand  Mines,  and 

1,426  for  other  employment 

on  the  Rand.] 

Transvaal      

102,492 

;25,295   for  the   Rand  Mines, 

and  21,937  for  other  employ- 

ment in  the  Rand  ;    1  ,786  left 

for  Kimberley  Mines.] 

Orange  Free  State 

50,340 

;2,370   for   the   Rand   Mines  ; 

1,396  for  Kimberley  Mines.] 

Total      

362,959 

[This  Table  is  taken  from  the  "  Union  Blue  Book  on  Native 
Affairs  for  1910."] 

We  can  now  proceed  to  examine  the  state  of  the  African 
labour  supply  at  the  chief  industrial  centres  of  the  Union 
as  indicated  by  the  latest  available  returns. 

237 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

THE  TRANSVAAL  MINING  INDUSTRY 

The  number  of  natives  employed  on  mines  and  works 
in  the  Proclaimed  Labour  Districts  of  the  Transvaal  on 
December  31st,  1910,  was  206,536,  as  against  183,258 
employed  on  December  31st,  1909.  The  average  number 
of  natives  employed  throughout  the  year  1910  was 
207,921,  as  against  182,357  for  the  preceding  year  1909  ; 
thus  showing  an  average  increase  for  the  year  of  upwards 
of  25,000. 

The  table  on  p.  239  shows  the  sources  from  which  these 
206,536  natives,  employed  on  December  31st,  1910,  on 
mines  and  works,  were  drawn  ;  and  it  also  shows  the 
number  and  origin  of  the  86,615  additional  natives,  who 
were  engaged  at  the  same  date  in  employment  other  than 
mines  and  works  in  the  Proclaimed  Labour  Districts  of 
the  Province. 

The  table  on  p.  240  exhibits  the  development  of  the 
supply  of  native  labour  in  the  Transvaal  since  1906. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  supply  of  native  labour  in  the 
Proclaimed  Labour  Districts  of  the  Transvaal  has 
increased  largely  since  the  repatriation  of  the  Chinese 
was  begun  in  1907.  These  latter  were  employed  exclu- 
sively in  the  gold  industry  of  the  Rand ;  but  whereas 
the  Rand  gold  industry  employed  84,897  African  labourers 
in  1906,  it  employed  183,613  in  1910.  In  these  four 
years,  therefore,  the  Rand  Gold  industry  has  secured 
an  addition  of  100,000  native  labourers,  or  twice  the 
number — 50,000 — of  the  Chinese  supply. 

This  result,  that  is  to  say  the  large  increase  of  native 
labour  thus  obtained  both  for  the  Transvaal  industries 
as  a  whole  and  for  the  Rand  Gold  industry  in  particular, 
appears  at  first  sight  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  state- 
ment of  the  extent  of  the  shortfall  of  native  labour  in 
1904,  which  was  put  on  record  by  the  Native  Affairs 
Commission  of  that  date.  An  analysis  of  the  causes  to 
which  the  increase  is  to  be  attributed,  and  an  examination 

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INCREASE    IN    TRANSVAAL 

of  the  relation  which  it  bears  to  the  increase  in  the  existing 
demand  for  African  labour  in  the  Transvaal,  will  show, 
however,  that  this  is  not  the  case.  Shortly  put,  the 
explanation  of  the  apparent  inconsistency  is  this.  In 
1904  the  supply  of  African  labour  was  below  the  normal, 
and  the  demand  was  considerably  above  the  normal. 
By  1907  both  supply  and  demand  had  become  fairly 
normal,  and  in  these  circumstances  the  Rand  Gold 
industry,  with  its  highly  organised  system  of  recruiting, 
was  able  from  this  time  forward  to  increase  largely  its 
supply  of  native  labour.  By  so  doing  it  minimised, 
though  it  did  not  by  any  means  wholly  avoid,  the  injury 
inflicted  upon  it  by  the  enforced  withdrawal  of  the 
50,000  Chinese  labourers.  That  the  gold  industry  was 
adversely  affected  by  the  repatriation  of  the  Chinese  will 
be  generally  admitted.  In  the  first  place,  the  50,000 
Chinese  were  more  valuable  industrially,  as  being  more 
efficient,  than  a  corresponding  number  of  African  natives  ; 
and  in  the  second,  the  labour  requirements  of  the  industry 
were  so  great  that  it  needed  for  its  unfettered  development 
the  Chinese  as  well  as  any  additional  African  labour  which 
it  could  secure. 

The  increase  in  the  Transvaal  native  labour  supply 
is  to  be  attributed  to  three  main  causes. 

1.  The  work  of  repairing  the  material  destruction  of 
the   war   was   practically   completed,   and   the   African 
labour  thus  employed  was  set  free. 

2.  The  very  large  reduction  in  the  world's  demand  for 
diamonds  at  the  time  in  question,  due  chiefly  to  the 
commercial  crisis  in  the  United  States,  caused  the  diamond 
mines  to  reduce  their  output,  with  the  result  that  the 
number  of  natives  employed  by  this  industry  was  reduced 
by  many  thousands. 

3.  Commercial  depression  in  South  Africa  lessened  the 
general  demand  for  native  labour  ;  and  in  particular  the 
governments  of  the  Cape  and  Natal,   owing  to  the  fall 

241 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

in  their  revenues,  curtailed  or  abandoned  many  of  the 
public  works  upon  which  they  had  embarked  immediately 
after  the  war. 

In  addition  to  the  operation  of  these  general  causes, 
there  is  one  special  reason  for  the  increase  in  the  Transvaal 
native  labour  supply  which  is  eminently  satisfactory. 
From  the  last  table,  which  shows  the  development  of  the 
supply  in  recent  years,  it  will  be  seen  that,  while  there  is  a 
general  increase  from  most  of  the  principal  sources  of 
supply,  including  Portuguese  territory,  the  number  of 
natives  coming  from  the  Cape  Colony  had  increased  by  no 
less  than  167'4  per  cent,  in  1910  as  compared  with  1906. 
This  remarkable  result,  which  is  especially  satisfactory 
as  being  an  increase  of  native  labour  from  within  the 
Union  itself,  is  due  to  the  active  co-operation  of  the 
Transvaal  and  Cape  Governments  with  the  leaders  of 
the  Rand  mining  industry  prior  to  the  establishment  of 
the  Union.  The  departure  is  an  important  one,  and  an 
account  of  the  arrangements  to  which  it  led,  will  serve 
to  illustrate  how  greatly  the  methods  of  recruiting  native 
labour  have  improved  since  the  pre-war  days. 

In  September,  1909,  a  conference  was  convened  at 
Capetown  by  the  Cape  Native  Affairs  Department,  at 
which  the  representatives  of  the  Chamber  of  Mines  and 
the  principal  recruiting  agencies,  and  the  Director  of  the 
Transvaal  Native  Labour  Bureau  were  present ;  and  the 
system  of  recruitment  in  the  Transkei  and  the  operation 
of  the  Labour  Agent  Regulations  were  considered. 

As  the  result  of  this  Conference,  the  Transvaal  Govern- 
ment established  labour  registry  offices  at  the  following 
stations  in  the  Cape  Colony : — Queenstown,  King 
William's  Town,  Butterworth,  Indwe,  Umtata,  Flagstaff, 
Bizane,  Mount  Frere,  Umzimkulu. 

The  duties  of  the  registrars  are  : 

(a)  To  receive  all  native  labourers  proceeding  to  the 
mines  in  the  Transvaal ; 

242 


RECRUITING    IN    TRANSKEI 

(b)  To  explain  and  ratify  their  contracts  of  service  ; 

(c)  To  observe  the  operations  of  labour  agents  and 
runners  ; 

(d)  To  report  on  irregularities  or  misconduct  on  their 
part; 

(e)  To  investigate  and  report  on  complaints  or  grievances 
brought  to  their  notice  ; 

(/)  To  arrange  for  the  rationing  and  transmission  of 
voluntary  natives.  A  charge  of  Is.  a  day  is  made  for 
rations,  and  2s.  6d.  for  registration  fee — these  being  the 
charges  of  the  Transvaal  Government  Labour  Bureau. 
Rail  warrants  are  issued  for  railway  journeys  ;  and  the 
charges  for  rations  and  rail  warrants  are  recovered  from 
the  employers  by  the  Bureau  ; 

(g)  Generally  to  act  as  intelligence  agents  in  labour 
matters. 

These  officers,  who  were  to  receive  salaries  of  £300  a 
year  plus  transport  and  travelling  allowances,  visited 
Johannesburg  in  January,  1910,  and  were  made  conver- 
sant with  the  general  conditions  prevailing  on  the  mines. 

At  the  same  time  the  principle  of  limiting  the  amounts 
advanced  to  natives  by  labour  agents  was  laid  down. 
The  limit  was  fixed  at  £5  Os.  Od.  Prior  to  this,  store- 
keepers, as  runners,  would  advance  sums  so  large  to  the 
natives,  that  the  latter  became  no  longer  free  agents, 
but  were  compelled  to  go  out  to  work  to  satisfy  their 
creditors. 

Also,  it  was  decided  that  labour  agents'  licences  should 
be  issued  to  licensees  in  their  representative  capacity, 
not  as  heretofore  in  their  individual  capacity.  The 
result  of  this  was  to  make  it  necessary  for  applications 
for,  or  renewals  of,  licences  to  be  supported  by  the 
company  or  organisation  by  whom  the  natives  were  to 
be  employed. 

Natives  who  desired  to  enter  voluntarily  into  contracts 
with  mining  companies,  and  not  to  engage  through  labour 

243 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

agents,  were  to  be  assisted  to  proceed  to  the  Transvaal 
for  this  purpose.  Arrangements  were  made  under 
which  these  natives  can  proceed  without  cost  to  them- 
selves to  the  Government  Native  Labour  Bureau  Com- 
pound at  Germiston  in  the  Rand.  Here  they  can 
dispose  of  their  labour  to  the  best  advantage,  choosing  any 
mine  that  they  may  prefer  ;  while  they  receive  advice 
and  assistance  from  the  officers  of  the  Bureau  with  respect 
to  their  contracts  of  service. 

Arrangements  were  also  made  to  permit  of  natives 
contracting  at  the  registry  offices  in  the  Cape  Colony 
for  service  in  particular  mines,  before  they  commenced 
their  journey  to  the  Transvaal.1 

This  increased  supply  of  native  labour  from  the  Cape 
Province,  and  particularly  from  the  Transkei,  apart  from 
the  direct  benefit  which  it  brings  to  the  Transvaal 
industries,  will,  if  it  is  maintained,  serve  to  lessen  the 
present  economic  dependence  of  the  Union  upon  Por- 
tuguese territory.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that 
this  is  a  consideration  which  would  assume  importance 
in  the  event  of  any  political  or  economic  friction  occurring 
between  the  Union  and  Mozambique  Governments. l 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  labour  outlook  in  the 

1  This  account  is  based  upon  the  Transvaal  Native  Affairs 
Report,  for  1909-10.  Since  writing  the  foregoing  the  following 
telegram  has  appeared  in  The  Times  of  December  8th,  1911. 
It  forms  so  apposite  a  comment  upon  the  text  that  I 
reproduce  it. 

"  LISBON,  Dec.  1th. 

"  The  Government  has  lately  been  receiving  communications 
from  the  authorities  in  Mozambique,  in  which  the  complaint  is 
made  that  owing  to  the  recruiting  of  thousands  of  natives  yearly  for 
the  Rand,  Mozambique  is  threatened  with  depopulation.  Appa- 
rently only  a  small  number  of  such  natives  return  to  the  province 
[Mozambique],  and  these  are  generally  physically  unfit  for  any 
further  work.  The  Minister  for  the  Colonies  has  expressed  in 
the  Senate  the  hope  that  Great  Britain  will  consent  to  such  a 
modification  of  the  Transvaal  Mozambique  Convention  as  will 
ensure  the  compulsory  repatriation  of  Portuguese  natives." 

244 


TRANSVAAL   SHORTAGE 


Transvaal  is  improving.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  while  the  native  labour  supply  has  been 
largely  increased  since  1906,  the  industrial  demands  of 
the  province  have  also  increased.  Indeed  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  the  absolute  increase  of  labour, 
large  as  it  is,  represents  a  relative  increase  :  whether, 
in  other  words,  to-day  the  supply  is  much  more  capable 
of  satisfying  the  demand  for  unskilled  labour,  than  it  was 
(say)  in  1906,  when  the  Chinese  were  on  the  mines. 
In  the  case  of  the  gold,  diamond,  and  coal  mines  the 
Report  of  the  Witwatersrand  Native  Labour  Association, 
supplies  a  precise  statement  of  the  shortfall  in  1910. 
Broadly  speaking,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  table  given 
below,  these,  the  main  industries  of  the  Transvaal,  at 
the  end  of  1910  required  one-third  more  labour  than  they 
had  been  able  to  secure  :  or,  more  precisely,  they  had 
only  71-11  of  their  full  complement  of  African  labourers. 

SUMMARY  OF  NATIVES  EMPLOYED  AT  DECEMBER  3!sT, 

1910 


Com- 
plement. 

Natives  employed 
31/12/10  — 
By/Com-      By/Con- 
pany.        gtractor. 

Total. 

Percent- 

«£ 

plement. 

Nine  Gold  Mining  Groups 
Premier  Diamond  Mine 
Sundry  Members  

Collieries   
Total      

234,054 
14,000 
l6»413 

148,892 
9,939 
11,898 

16,963 
849 

165,855 
9,939 
12,747 

70'86 
70-99 
77-66 

264,467 
12,377 

170,729 
8,354 

17,812 

188,541 
8,354 

71-29 
67-50 

276,844 

179,083 

17,812 

196,895 

71-11 

(This  Table  is  taken  from  the  Report  of  the  W. N.L.  A.,  1911.) 

And,  moreover,  the  corresponding  figures  for  the  year 
1911  show  a  slight  falling  off  in  the  number  of  "  natives 
employed,"  and  an  appreciable  increase  in  the  "  com- 
plements "  of  the  associated  gold,  diamond,  and  coal 
mines.  Although  the  annual  report  of  the  Witwatersrand 
Native  Labour  Association  for  1912  has  not  been  issued 

245 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

at  the  time  of  writing,  it  is  understood  that  the  total 
supply  of  natives  at  the  end  of  1911  was,  in  round  num- 
bers, 195,000,  and  the  complement  required  297,000. 
The  percentage  of  the  complement  was,  therefore,  only 
65|,  or,  in  other  words,  there  was  a  shortage  of  102,000 
natives,  being  34  j-  per  cent,  of  the  number  required. 

As  showing  that  this  deficiency  in  the  labour  supply 
is  in  no  way  to  be  attributed  to  any  want  of  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  mining  companies,  it  may  be  added  that 
during  the  year,  June  30th,  1909— May  31st,  1910,  no 
less  than  797  recruiting  licences  were  issued  under  the 
conditions  imposed  by  the  Labour  Agents'  Regulations. 
The  revenue  produced  by  these  licences  was  £3,442  5s.  Od.; 
and  a  further  sum  of  £2,506  was  collected  on  account  of 
the  506  Compound  Overseers'  licences  which  were  also 
issued.  These  figures  bring  before  us  the  magnitude  and 
completeness  of  the  recruiting  system  by  which  the 
Transvaal  industries  are  served. 

MINING  CENTRES  OTHER  THAN  THE  TRANSVAAL 

THE  COAL  MINES  OF  NATAL 

In  1910  there  were  employed  in  the  Natal  collieries — 
Zulus,  5,820;  Indians,  4,143;  Cape  boys,  97;  Shan- 
ganas,  12 ;  making  a  total  of  10,072  unskilled  coloured 
labourers.  The  report  contained  in  the  Union  Blue  Book 
states  that  there  was  a  shortage  of  labour  on  every  mine, 
and  that  on  some  the  shortage  was  so  great  as  to  affect 
seriously  the  output.  The  number  of  additional  labourers 
required  was  3,278.  Writing  on  February  21st,  1911, 
the  Government  official  adds  :  "  I  expect  that,  in  the 
near  future,  further  mines  will  be  opened  and  worked, 
and  that  the  demand  for  labour  will  accordingly  increase, 
especially  as  the  supply  of  Indians  will  shortly  stop." 

THE  KIMBERLEY  DIAMOND  MINES 
The  Protector  of  Natives,  Kimberley,  reports  that  in 
1910  the  only  mines  being  worked  were  the  Kimberley, 

246 


CONDITION   OF   LABOURERS 

Du  Toils'  Pan,  Bultfontein,  and  Wesselton  mines.  The 
fifteen  compounds  under  his  supervision  were  occupied 
by  some  13,000  natives.  In  this  centre  the  labour 
requirements  of  the  De  Beers  Company  were  fully  satisfied 
by  the  available  supply. 

THE  NAMAQUALAND  COPPER  MINES 
The  Resident  Magistrate  at  Springbokfontein  reports 
that  on  December  31st,  1910,  the  total  number  of  natives 
(mainly  Hottentots)   employed  was  1,761,  but  that  on 
March  29th,  1911,  it  had  fallen  to  1,034. 

OTHER  MINES 

In  addition  to  the  above,  some  thousands  of  native 
labourers — say  10,000  in  all — are  required  for  the 
diamond  mines  in  the  Free  State,  the  coal  mines  in 
the  Cape,  and  the  silver,  tin  and  copper  mines  in  the 
Transvaal. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  conditions  under  which 
natives  are  employed  on  the  mines  are  carefully  super- 
vised by  Government  officials  throughout  the  Union. 
On  the  Kimberley  and  Witwatersrand  mines  especially, 
and  generally  elsewhere,  it  may  be  said  that  to-day 
nothing  has  been  left  undone,  not  merely  to  secure  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  native  labourers,  but  to  provide 
them  with  all  reasonable  conveniences.  In  spite  of  a 
somewhat  trying  winter  climate,  the  death  rate  of  natives 
employed  on  mines  and  industrial  works  in  the  Proclaimed 
Labour  Districts  of  the  Transvaal  has  been  reduced  from 
112-5  per  thousand  in  1903  to  36'23  per  thousand  in 
December,  1910.  Or,  to  take  another  significant  item, 
which  is  provided  by  the  Transvaal  Native  Affairs  Report 
for  1909-10,  in  the  twelve  months  preceding  May  31st, 
1910,  a  sum  of  £8,234  19s.  8d.  was  received  by  the 
Department  from  employers  of  labour  as  being  due  to 
natives  injured  by  accidents,  or  to  the  dependents  of 
natives  who  had  been  killed,  under  the  compensation 

247 
17— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

scheme   which   was  voluntarily  arranged  and   adopted 
by  the  mining  companies. 

DEMANDS  FOR  NATIVE  LABOUR  OTHER  THAN  MINES 
AND  AGRICULTURE 

Apart  from  the  mines,  agriculture,  and  other  mis- 
cellaneous and  lesser  industries  under  private  manage- 
ment, there  remain  two  considerable  demands  for 
native,  and  coloured,  unskilled  labour  which  come  respec- 
tively (1)  from  the  State,  and  (2)  from  the  Domestic 
Service  requirements  of  the  European  community. 

Including  the  municipalities  and  other  public  authorities 
under  the  head  of  "  the  State,"  a  large  part  of  the  first 
demand  is  met  by  the  200,000  natives  and  coloured 
persons,  who,  as  we  saw,  are  returned  as  living  in  locations 
in  town  areas.  Bearing  this  consideration  in  mind, 
it  will  assist  us  in  forming  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  this 
demand  to  remember  that  the  Union  Government 
employs  some  thousands  of  natives  as  police,  especially 
in  the  main  centres  of  native  population,  and  the  Union 
railways  have  a  large  staff  of  native  and  coloured  employes. 
In  respect  of  this  latter  precise  figures  are  provided  by  the 
Report  of  the  General  Manager  of  the  Union  railways, 
issued  in  1911.  From  this  it  appears  that  on  December 
31st,  1910,  the  State  employed  on  its  railways  23,178 
natives,  coloured  persons,  and  (in  Natal)  Indians ;  the 
rest  and  greater  part  of  the  staff,  of  which  the  total  was 
49,762,  being  Europeans. 

In  the  case  of  the  demand  for  natives  for  domestic 
service,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  great  majority 
of  the  natives  thus  employed  are  males,  not  females,  and 
the  class  is  commonly  known  as  "  house  boys."  Efforts 
are  being  made  to  supply  this  obvious  deficiency  by 
teaching  cooking  and  house-work  to  native  girls  in  the 
mission  and  other  schools ;  but  for  the  present  the  coloured 
population  of  the  Cape  Province  is  practically  the  only 

248 


NUMBERS    EMPLOYED 

source  from  which  female  servants,  not  being  Europeans, 
can  be  obtained,  and  of  these  the  supply  is  necessarily 
very  limited.  In  the  absence  of  any  returns,  it  is  difficult 
to  give  even  an  approximate  statement  of  the  number  of 
the  natives  continuously  required  as  "  house-boys  "  ; 
but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  almost  every  European  family 
employs  at  least  one  native,  or  coloured,  servant,  200,000 
would  seem  to  be  a  reasonable  estimate. 

To  sum  up,  we  know  from  the  returns  given  in  the 
Union  Blue  Book  that  on  December  31st,  1910,  the 
following  bodies  of  native,  or  coloured,  labourers  were 
employed  : 

On  the  Proclaimed  Labour  Districts  in  the 

Transvaal 293,151 

Deduct  Portuguese  and  Central  African, 

etc.,  Natives 100,000 

193,151 

On  the  Natal  Collieries 10,072 

On  the  Kimberley  Diamond  Mines   . .          . .  13,000 

On  the  Namaqualand  Copper  Mines             . .  1,761 

On  the  Railways         27,178 


Total 245,162 


What  number  of  natives  and  coloured  persons  were 
employed  in  addition  to  the  above  total  of  (say)  250,000 
on  other  mines,  in  public  services  other  than  the  railways, 
in  the  lesser  industries,  in  shops,  and  in  domestic  service, 
in  the  absence  of  any  available  statistics  must  remain 
a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  needs  of  agriculture  are 
met,  as  we  have  noticed,  mainly  though  not  entirely 
by  the  partial  services  rendered  to  the  farmers  by  the 
native  tenants,  or  squatters,  of  whom  there  is  a  total 
population  of  1,500,000  within  the  Union. 

It  only  remains  to  add  that,  having  regard  to  the 
conditions  of  native  life,  the  wages  paid  to  the  African 
labourers,  both  on  the  mines  and  generally  in  all  employ- 
ments, provide  an  ample  return  for  the  services  they 

249 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


render.  Indeed,  the  altogether  exceptional  circum- 
stances which  keep  the  European  community  a  white 
community  without  a  population  of  white  unskilled 
labourers,  together  with  the  extraordinary  mineral 
wealth  of  the  country,  have  brought  it  about  that  in 
South  Africa  native  labour  is  paid  twice  or  three  times  as 
much  as  it  is  in  Central  and  Eastern  Africa,  or  in  the 
Far  East. 

The  subjoined  table  will  give  a  general  idea  of  the 
rates  of  wages  paid  for  native  and  coloured  labour 
throughout  the  Union.  These  rates,  of  course,  vary 
very  considerably  as  between  the  several  provinces. 

(These  figures  must  be  taken  as  approximate  only.) 


Province  and  Industry. 

Per  Day. 

Per  Month. 

Farm  Labour  — 

The  Transvaal  .. 



From  £i   to  £2   ios.,  with  or 

without  food. 

Other  Provinces 



ios.    to    .os.,   with    food    and 

sleeping  quarters. 

On  the  Wine  Farms    .. 

is.  6d.  to  as.,  with  allowances. 

Mine  Labour  — 

The  Transvaal 

is.  8d.  to  as.  6d.,  with  excel- 

— — 

lent  quarters,  rations,  and 

free  medical  attendance. 

Kimberley  Diamond  Mines  .  . 

38.    to    35.   6d.,    with    free 



quarters. 
Drilling  boys,  4$.  6d. 

The  Natal  Collieries 

_____ 

From    £i     ios.    to    £3,    with 

quarters  and  food. 

House  Boys   



ios.  to  £4,  with  board  &  lodging. 

General  Labourers 

35.  to  35.  6d. 

250 


CHAPTER   II 

TRANSPORT  AND   COMMUNICATIONS 

UNDER  the  South  Africa  Act  (1909)  the  administration 
of  the  railways  and  harbours  of  the  Union  is  vested  in  a 
Board  of  three  commissioners,  with  a  minister  of  state 
as  chairman.  The  original  commissioners,  appointed 
in  1910,  were  Sir  Thomas  Rees  Price,  K.C.M.G.,  Mr. 
Thomas  Smith  McEwen,  and  Lt.-Col.  Edward  Mackenzie 
Greene,  K.C.  ;  and  the  first  chairman,  as  minister  of 
railways  and  harbours  in  the  first  Union  Government, 
was  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Sauer. 

OVERSEA  COMMUNICATIONS 

Communication  with  England  and  the  rest  of  the  civi- 
lised world  is  maintained  by  mail  and  other  ocean-going 
steamships  and  by  submarine  cable.  South  Africa 
is  linked  directly  with  England,  Europe,  Australia  and 
New  Zealand  by  means  of  the  various  lines  of  steamships 
which  visit  her  ports  at  regular  intervals.  The  length 
of  the  voyage  from  London  or  Southampton  by  the 
West  Coast,  and  more  direct,  route  is  about  6,200  miles 
to  Capetown,  and  about  7,000  miles  to  Durban.  The 
time  occupied,  which  varies,  of  course,  with  the  class  of 
steamship  chosen  by  the  traveller,  is  from  seventeen  to 
twenty  days  to  Capetown,  and  from  twenty-one  to  twenty- 
six  to  Durban.  There  is  a  weekly  mail,  outward  and 
homeward,  between  South  Africa  and  England.  Letters 
by  the  outward  mail  posted  in  London  on  Saturday 
morning  usually  reach  Capetown  on  the  Tuesday  fortnight 
(seventeen  days),  and  Johannesburg  on  the  following 
Thursday  or  Friday.  The  homeward  mail  leaves 
Johannesburg  on  Monday,  and  Capetown  on  Wednesday. 

251 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Thus  the  business  man  in  London  can  receive  a  reply  from 
a  correspondent  in  Johannesburg  within  six  weeks  ;  and 
the  Rand  can  communicate  with  London  by  letter  within 
the  same  period  of  time. 

There  is  also  a  less  frequent  service  of  steamships, 
British  and  foreign,  maintained  between  England  and 
the  South  African  ports  by  way  of  the  Suez  Canal  and  the 
East  Coast  of  Africa.  In  the  case  of  this,  the  East  Coast 
route,  the  outward  bound  passenger  can  either  embark 
at  London  or  Southampton,  or  travel  overland  to  join 
the  boat  at  Marseilles  or  Naples,  and  thus  shorten  the 
time  to  be  spent  on  board  ship.  Steamers  by  this  route 
pass  through  the  Mediterranean,  down  the  Red  Sea, 
and  after  touching  at  the  principal  ports  on  the  East 
Coast  disembark  their  South  African  passengers  at 
Beira,  Delagoa  Bay,  or  Durban.  Of  the  two,  the  East 
Coast  Route,  with  its  frequent  breaks  at  Mediterranean 
and  East  African  ports,  is  by  far  the  more  interesting  ; 
but,  owing  to  the  great  heat  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
East  African  waters,  it  makes  more  demands  upon  the 
physical  endurance  of  the  passenger. 

It  may  be  added  that  a  proposal  is  on  foot  for  con- 
structing a  railway  through  the  Congo  Free  State  to 
connect  Lobito  Bay,  in  Portuguese  West  Africa,  with  the 
Cape-to-Cairo  line,  and  thereby  with  the  Rhodesian  and 
Union  systems.  If  this  project  is  successfully  carried  out, 
and  Lobito  Bay  takes  the  place  of  Capetown  as  the  ocean 
terminus  of  the  West  Coast  route,  not  only  will  the 
duration  of  the  voyage  to  South  Africa  be  shortened, 
but  Johannesburg  will  be  brought  several  days  nearer  to 
England. 

The  records  of  the  Union  Post  Office  show  how  amply 
communication  is  maintained  by  letter  between  South 
Africa  and  England,  and  through  England  with  other 
countries.  During  the  year  1910  the  articles  of  mail 
matter,  exclusive  of  parcels,  which  were  sent  from  the 

252 


CABLE   SERVICE 


Union  to  England  and  abroad  numbered  13,993,250, 
while  the  number  of  those  received  was  still  larger — 
19,948,460. 

Telegraphic  communication  with  England  and  abroad 
is  provided  by  the  submarine  service  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  routes. 

A  subsidy  of  £13,000,  shared  by  the  United  Kingdom, 
the  Union  and  Southern  Rhodesia,  is  payable  when  the 
annual  value  of  the  traffic  handled  by  the  Associated 
Companies  does  not  reach  £300,000.  The  value  of  the 
South  African  traffic,  and  the  rates  charged  during  the 
past  eleven  years  are  as  follows  : 


Year. 

1900 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904 
1905 
1906 
1907 
1908 
1909 
1910 


Rate  per  word. 

3/6 

3/- 
2/6 


Amount. 

i 

457,366 
336,986 
465,791 
391,108 
338,476 
324,216 
301,947 
250,016 
234,985 
283,054 
284,630 


This  table  shows  that  the  charges  made  for  cables 
have  been  reduced  since  1903  to  a  point  which  would 
make  the  service  unremunerative,  except  for  the  Govern- 
ment subsidy.  And  in  this  connection  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  a  "  word,"  if  it  is  a  code  word  (as  most  words 
would  be  in  such  messages),  may  convey  a  sentence. 
In  the  seven  months,  May  31st  to  December  31st,  1910, 
the  number  of  private  messages  handed  in  at  the  offices 
of  the  Union  was  49,657.  They  contained  collectively 
518,935  words,  and  the  charges  paid  on  them  amounted 
to  £62,292. 

The  four  chief  ports  of  the  Union  are  Capetown,  Port 

253 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Elizabeth,  and  East  London  in  the  Cape  Province,  and 
Durban  in  Natal.  Taking  them  as  a  whole  they  may  be 
said  to  be  well  supplied  with  wharves,  warehouses,  and 
all  modern  appliances  necessary  for  the  accommodation 
of  shipping,  and  the  prompt  and  economic  loading  and 
unloading  of  cargoes.  In  the  case  of  all  these  ports  the 
docks  are  served  by  railway  lines  which  connect  them  with 
the  main  railway  systems. 

In  the  waters  of  Table  Bay,  Capetown  has  always 
possessed  a  fine  natural  anchorage,  and  on  its  shores 
harbour  works  have  been  constructed  during  the  last 
half  century,  upon  which,  up  to  December  31st,  1908, 
a  total  sum  of  £4,214,822  has  been  expended.  The 
harbour  works,  as  originally  planned  by  the  late  Sir 
John  Coode,  consisted  of  the  breakwater  and  the  inner 
basin.  They  were  named  the  Prince  Alfred  Docks  from 
the  circumstance  that  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  then 
Prince  Alfred,  tipped  the  first  wagon  load  of  the  stone 
which  was  to  form  the  breakwater  on  July  17th,  1860, 
and  formally  opened  the  inner  basin  ten  years  later. 
To  the  accommodation  thus  provided  there  has  been  added 
an  outer  harbour,  formed  by  a  second  pier  carried  parallel 
to  the  breakwater  from  a  point  to  the  south  of  the  inner 
basin.  The  outer  harbour  has  an  area  of  64  acres,  and 
provides  with  the  inner  basin  a  total  area  of  72-J-  acres  of 
protected  water,  of  a  minimum  depth  varying  from  twenty 
to  thirty-five  feet.  The  breakwater  has  been  completely 
constructed  to  a  length  of  3,640  feet,  and  the  South  Pier 
has  been  carried  out  some  1,700  feet.  The  electric 
cranes  and  "Temperley"  transporters,  with  which  the 
docks  are  equipped,  are  capable  of  handling  8,000  tons 
of  cargo  per  diem  ;  and  spacious  warehouses  have  been 
erected  within  which  468,516  square  feet  of  material 
can  be  stored.  Altogether  there  are  two  and  a  half 
miles  of  wharves  and  quays,  and  the  breakwater  gives 
shelter  to  vessels  lying  at  anchor  in  the  bay  outside  the 

254 


THE   CAPE   PORTS 

actual  harbour  area.  It  should  be  noticed  also  that 
Capetown  is  suplied  with  a  graving  dock  built  of  Paarl 
granite.  It  is  500  feet  long  and  68  feet  wide  at  the  entrance, 
which  latter  has  a  depth  over  the  cill  of  24£  feet  at  high 
water  ordinary  spring  tides. 

Algoa  Bay,  the  harbour  of  Port  Elizabeth,  is  a  fine 
roadstead,  with  open  but  secure  anchorage,  which  is  only 
exposed  to  winds  from  the  south-east.  There  is  no 
artificial  harbour ;  but  three  landing  jetties,  of  which 
two  are  1,160  feet,  and  one  1,460  feet  long,  have  been 
carried  so  far  out  into  the  bay  that  their  ends  stand  in 
22  feet  of  water  at  low  tide.  It  is  alongside  these  jetties, 
which  are  equipped  with  the  cranes,  capstans,  and  wool 
hoists  worked  by  the  port's  hydraulic  plant,  that  vessels 
lie  to  discharge  and  ship  their  cargo.  The  harbour 
has  some  35,000  square  yards  of  warehouse  area,  and  its 
present  appliances  and  accommodation  permit  of  5,000 
tons  of  cargo  being  handled  in  a  day.  In  addition  to  the 
three  landing  jetties,  there  is  an  explosives  jetty,  1,380 
feet  from  the  shore,  which  has  an  overhead  roadway 
communication  capable  of  landing  150  tons  per  diem. 
The  jetties,  warehouses,  and  harbour  yards  are  lighted 
by  electricity ;  and  the  same  force,  obtained  from  the 
municipal  supply,  is  employed  to  work  three  powerful 
overhead  cranes,  or  ganties — one  10-ton  and  two  5- ton — 
as  well  as  the  machinery  in  the  workshops.  Algoa  Bay 
is  the  chief  port  of  the  wool  industry  ;  and  it  has  been 
calculated  that  it  is  practicable  for  vessels  to  load  and 
unload  alongside  the  jetties,  in  spite  of  the  absence  of 
any  artificial  harbour,  on  300  out  of  the  312  weekdays 
in  the  year.  The  cost  of  the  two  shorter  jetties  was 
£260,000,  and  that  of  the  later  and  longer  jetty,  £185,000. 

East  London  is  a  river  harbour.  The  mouth  of  the 
Buffalo  River,  at  which  the  town  stands,  was  originally 
blocked  by  a  "  bar  "  of  sand,  which  prevented  the  passage 
of  large  ships.  Harbour  works,  comprising  a  sheltering 

255 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

breakwater  1,600  feet  in  length,  and  two  training  walls 
which,  narrowing  the  entrance  of  the  river  to  250  feet, 
have  greatly  increased  the  force  of  the  outflowing  current, 
together  with  the  continuous  employment  of  three  power- 
ful dredgers,  have  now  made  it  possible  to  maintain 
a  depth  of  water  over  the  bar  of  19  feet  at  low  water 
ordinary  spring  tides  throughout  the  year.  Upon  these 
necessary  but  costly  works,  originally  planned  like  the 
Prince  Alfred  Docks  at  Capetown  by  the  firm  of  the  late 
Sir  John  Coode,  and  upon  the  general  equipment  of  the 
port  the  large  sum  of  £2,084,407  had  been  expended 
up  to  December  31st,  1909.  As  the  result  vessels  of  8,000 
tons  gross  register  now  enter  the  river,  and  lie  alongside 
the  wharves,  where,  especially  on  the  west  bank  with  its 
recently  constructed  quay,  they  find  ample  accommo- 
dation and  a  dock  equipment  of  the  latest  and  most 
approved  type.  Indeed,  it  is  claimed  that  the  speed  with 
which  cargoes  are  landed  and  despatched  from  the  East 
London  docks  is  exceptional ;  since  goods  are  either 
loaded  direct  from  the  ship's  hold  into  the  railway  trucks, 
or  placed  in  sheds  which  are  so  spacious  that  they  permit 
of  an  unusually  rapid  handling  of  the  material  deposited 
in  them. 

Durban,  the  port  of  Natal,  affords  an  even  more  striking 
example  of  a  long  and  successful  conflict  with  the  forces 
of  nature.  The  harbour  consists  of  a  landlocked  tidal 
lagoon,  the  entrance  of  which,  the  Bluff  Channel,  was 
originally  blocked  by  a  "  bar  "  of  shifting  sand.  Between 
the  years  1854  and  1881  (the  year  of  the  retrocession  of  the 
Transvaal),  the  average  depth  of  the  channel  was  6  feet 
5  inches.  To-day  the  harbour  can  be  entered  at  all  times 
by  the  largest  of  the  ocean-going  steamships  that  visit 
the  South  African  coasts.  In  this  achievement,  which 
affords  one  of  the  most  interesting  episodes  in  the 
industrial  history  of  South  Africa,  a  debt  of  £3,595,445 
6s.  3d.  had  been  incurred,  up  to  the  date  of  the  Union, 

256 


DURBAN 

by  the  small  European  community  of  Natal ;  and  this 
total  has  been  subsequently  increased. 

The  entrance  and  harbour  channels  are  equipped  with  leading 
lights  and  light  buoys,  night  navigation  being  an  ordinary  feature 
of  the  port  work.  Pilotage  is  compulsory.  The  harbour  is 
approached  through  the  Bluff  Channel,  4,000  ft.  in  length,  formed 
by  a  north  pier  and  a  south  breakwater.  These  works  are  800  ft. 
apart,  except  at  the  pier  heads,  where  the  breadth  is  only  600  ft. 
The  average  low  water  depth  at  the  entrance  is  34  ft.,  and  on  the 
harbour  channels  30  ft.  .  .  .  The  land-locked  bay  inside  these 
piers  extends  about  3£  miles  east  and  west,  and  nearly  2  miles 
north  and  south.  The  deep  water  space  available  for  shipping 
covers  about  one-fifth  of  the  area,  and  gives  a  low  water  depth 
of  not  less  than  30  ft.  over  its  greater  part.  This  area  is  being 
constantly  extended  by  dredging.  There  is  a  total  of  10,370  ft. 
of  concrete  quay,  and  wooden  wharf  and  jetty  berthage,  giving 
a  low  water  depth  alongside  of  from  21  to  34  ft.,  and  the  concrete 
quay  is  presently  being  extended  to  provide  38  ft.  berthage. l 

The  port  has  nine  wharf  sheds  with  a  collective  capacity 
of  270,000  tons,  and  cranage  and  other  equipment  which 
permits  of  8,000  tons  of  cargo  being  handled  daily,  exclu- 
sive of  coal.  For  this  latter  material  there  is  a  special 
plant,  worked  by  electricity  and  provided  with  storage 
bins  of  10,000  tons  capacity,  by  means  of  which  vessels 
can  be  loaded  with  coal  at  the  rate  of  400  to  500  tons  an 
hour.  One  of  the  special  advantages  possessed  by  Durban 
is  its  Floating  Repairing  Dock,  which  will  take  vessels 
with  a  dead  weight  of  8,500  tons,  of  23  feet  draught,  and 
475  feet  in  length ;  and  to  this  there  is  attached  a  floating 
workshop,  furnished  with  a  15-ton  crane,  and  a  patent 
slip  for  small  craft  up  to  250  tons  dead  weight.  The  docks 
are  lit  by  electricity,  and  have  an  inexhaustible  supply 
of  water  which  serves  all  berthage  ;  and  the  harbour  is 
provided  with  three  powerful  tugs,  and  an  ample  and 
efficient  dredging  fleet. 

Among  the  lesser  ports  of  South  Africa  are  Port  Nolloth, 
the  port  of  the  copper  mines,  and  Saldanha  Bay  on  the 
west  coast ;  Mossel  Bay,  midway  between  Capetown  and 

1  Colonial  Office  List,   1911. 

257 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Port  Elizabeth,  Port  Alfred  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kowie 
River,  and  Port  St.  John's,  the  large  estuary  at  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  John's  River  in  Pondoland.  Nor  must 
it  be  forgotten  that  the  Imperial  Government  maintains 
a  naval  station  at  Simonstown  in  False  Bay,  a  few  miles 
to  the  south  of  Capetown. 

The  debt  incurred  by  the  two  coastal  colonies  on  account 
of  expenditure  upon  harbours  amounted  at  May  30th, 
1910,  to  the  sum  of  £9,562,720  17s.  4d.  of  which 
£5,967,275  11s.  Id.  had  been  spent  by  the  Cape  and 
£3,562,720  17s.  4d.  by  Natal.  This  debt  was,  of  course, 
assumed  by  the  Union  Government,  and  formed  part  of 
its  total  public  debt  of  £116,000,000.  The  largeness 
of  this  expenditure,  and  the  consequent  improvement  in 
the  accommodation  and  equipment  of  the  four  principal 
ports  of  South  Africa,  are  to  be  attributed  largely  to  the 
keen  competition  for  the  carrying  trade  to  the  Rand, 
which  marked  the  six  years  immediately  preceding  the 
establishment  of  the  Union.  This  competition  was  mani- 
fested not  only  as  between  the  individual  ports,  but  as 
between  the  Cape  ports  collectively  and  Durban,  the 
port  of  Natal ;  and  then  further  as  between  the  British 
ports  collectively  and  Delagoa  Bay,  a  "  foreign  "  port, 
but  nevertheless  recognised  by  the  Transvaal,  because 
of  its  proximity,  as  its  "  natural "  port.  The  accommoda- 
tion for  shipping  at  Delagoa  Bay,  it  is  almost  needless 
to  add,  has  also  been  greatly  improved  in  recent  years  ; 
and  the  enlargement  of  the  wharfage,  and  the  increase 
of  the  railway  and  general  facilities  of  the  port,  have  been 
carried  on  under  the  direct  inspiration  of  the  Government 
of  the  Transvaal  and  to  some  extent  with  the  assistance 
of  British  capital. 

THE  UNION  RAILWAYS 

But  little  more  than  half  a  century  ago  there  were  no 
railways  in  South  Africa.  On  March  31st,  1859,  the  first 

258 


RAILWAY    CONSTRUCTION 

sod  was  turned  by  Sir  George  Grey  in  the  construction 
of  the  first  railway,  which  was  to  run  from  Capetown  to 
Wellington — a  distance  of  fifty-eight  miles.  In  1862 
a  branch  line  from  Salt  River — the  terminus  of  the  Cape- 
town-Wellington line — to  the  surburb  of  Wynberg 
was  started,  and  a  little  later  a  railway  was  carried  from 
Port  Elizabeth  to  Uitenhage.  These  lines,  which  were 
originally  built  by  private  enterprise,  were  subsequently 
purchased  by  the  Cape  Government.  With  the  addition  of 
a  two-mile  line  in  Natal,  they  were  all  that  South  Africa 
had  in  the  way  of  railways,  until  the  discovery  of  the 
diamond  mines  in  Griqualand  West,  in  1870,  gave 
the  first  decided  impetus  to  the  industrial  development 
of  the  sub-continent.  The  foundation  of  Kimberley  and 
the  diamond  industry  brought  a  material  increase  to  the 
trade  and  revenues  of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  when,  in 
1873,  Responsible  Government  was  established,  the 
new  administration  embarked  upon  a  programme  of 
railway  construction.  In  the  course  of  the  next  ten  years 
railway  lines  were  carried  into  the  interior  from  the 
three  principal  ports,  Capetown,  Port  Elizabeth,  and 
East  London,  to  meet  at  De  Aar  junction,  on  the 
southern  border  of  the  Free  State ;  and  from  this 
point  the  railway  was  taken  northwards  direct  to 
the  goal  of  Kimberley,  which  was  reached  in  1885. 
In  the  meantime  a  railway  had  been  built  in  Natal 
to  connect  Durban,  the  port,  with  Maritzburg,  the  seat 
of  government. 

A  year  later,  in  September,  1886,  the  Rand  was  declared 
a  public  goldfield  by  the  Transvaal  Government.  Then 
followed  the  sudden  birth  of  Johannesburg,  and  the  rapid 
conversion  of  the  barren  uplands  around  it  into  the  great- 
est industrial  centre  of  South  Africa.  Within  nine  years 
of  the  proclamation  of  the  Rand  goldfield,  three  railway 
systems  were  competing  for  the  profits  to  be  earned  by 
carrying  goods  and  passengers  between  it  and  the  coast. 

259 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  Cape  Government  was  first  in  the  field.  By  arrange- 
ments with  the  Free  State  Government  and  the  Nether- 
lands South  Africa  Railways  Company,  direct  railway 
communication  between  the  Cape  ports  and  the  Rand  was 
established  in  1892.  The  Delagoa  Bay  line  of  the  Nether- 
lands Company  to  Pretoria  and  Johannesburg  was 
completed  in  1894  ;  and  a  year  later  the  Natal  system, 
which  had  been  carried  to  the  extreme  north  of  the  Colony 
by  the  Natal  Government,  was  linked  by  the  Netherlands 
Company  with  Johannesburg,  and  Durban  was  placed 
on  a  level  with  the  Cape  ports  and  Delagoa  Bay. 

In  the  meantime  Rhodes  had  founded  the  British  South 
Africa  Company,  and  conceived  the  project  of  a  trans- 
continental railway  uniting  Capetown  with  Cairo.  The 
development  of  Rhodesia  drew  the  Cape  main  trunk 
line  from  Kimberley  to  Vryburg  and  Mafeking,  whence  it 
reached  Buluwayo,  a  distance  of  1,362  miles  from  Cape- 
town, in  1897.  Altogether  in  the  decade  1887-1897, 
2,000  miles  of  new  railways  were  constructed  in  South 
Africa  under  the  immediate  stimulus  of  gold  discovery. 

After  the  war  the  Rhodesian  railway  system  was 
rapidly  extended,  and  the  trans-continental  main  line 
was  carried  over  the  Zambezi  at  the  Victoria  Falls,  and 
thence  through  Northern  Rhodesia  into  the  Congo  Free 
State.  In  the  four  older  colonies,  which  now  form  the 
provinces  of  the  Union,  railway  construction  was  under- 
taken with  vigour  as  a  necessary  adjunct  to  the  industrial 
reconstruction  of  South  Africa.  Lord  Milner,  in  the 
three  short  years  of  his  governorship,  doubled  the  mileage 
of  open  lines  in  the  Transvaal  and  Orange  River  Colony, 
and  otherwise  vastly  improved  their  joint  system,  known 
as  the  Central  South  African  Railways.  More  than  this, 
he  inspired  and  negotiated  agreements  with  the  Cape  and 
Natal  Governments  and  with  the  De  Beers  Company, 
which  resulted  in  the  construction  of  new  lines  directly 
calculated  to  link  the  Central  South  African  Railways 

260 


THE    UNION    SYSTEM 


more  closely  with  the  Cape  and  Natal  systems,  and  thereby 
made  intercourse  between  the  people  of  the  several 
colonies  more  speedy  and  more  convenient. 

These  three  systems,  thus  extended  and  unified  largely 
under  Lord  Milner's  guidance,  are  now  administered  by 
a  single  authority,  the  Harbour  and  Railway  Board, 
and  constitute  the  State  railways  of  the  Union  of  South 
Africa.  Taking  the  Report  of  the  General  Manager  of 
Railways  for  South  Africa,  issued  in  1911,  we  find  that 
on  December  31st,  1910,  the  extent  of  the  system,  which 
with  slight  exceptions  includes  all  railways  within  the 
Union,  was  7,039  miles  of  open  lines,  with  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  of  new  lines  under  construction.  Except 
in  the  suburban  systems  of  the  few  large  towns,  the 
Union  railways  are  single  track  lines  ;  and  the  gauge  is 
three  feet  six  inches,  which  is  the  standard  gauge  for  all 
South  African  lines  within  and  without  the  Union. 

The  following  table  will  afford  a  rough  measure  of  the 
value  of  this  system,  considered  as  an  important  element 
in  the  national  "  plant  "  of  the  new  dominion.  The 
table  is  only  a  "  rough  "  measure,  because  it  does  not 
distinguish  single  from  double  (or  quadruple)  lines,  and 
contains  no  account  of  the  variations  in  the  number, 
carrying  capacity,  etc.,  etc.,  of  the  trains  run  upon  the 
several  systems. 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  LENGTH   OF  RAILWAYS  IN  THE 
CHIEF  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE 


Mileage  of  Open  Lines 

Division. 

Area  in 
Sq  Miles 

Population  — 

m  1909  — 

European. 

Coloured. 

State. 

Private. 

United  Kingdom     .  . 
Dom.  of  Canada 
Commonwealth  of 

121,090 
3,729,665 

45,365,599 
7,151,869 

Nil 
Negligible 

1,720 

23,280 
23,373 

Australia       .  . 
Dom.  of  New  Zealand 
British  India  (exclu- 

2,974,581 
104,751 

4,500,000 
1,050,000 

„ 

15,073 
2,717 

1,580 
29 

sive  of  Native  States  ) 

1,097,821 

British  Army 
and  Officials, 

244,267,542 

3M90 
(mainly  State,  worked  by 

Union  of  South  Africa 

473,i84 

etc. 
1,278,025 

4,680,474 

private  co 
6,705 

tnpanies) 
5i6 

261 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  financial  position  of  the  Union  Railways  at  the 
end  of  1910  was  excellent.  According  to  the  General 
Manager's  Report 1  the  gross  takings  for  the  year  (1910) 
amounted  to  £12,056,871,  being  an  increase  of  £1,899,600 
over  the  collective  takings  of  the  three  separate  systems 
in  the  previous  year.  The  excess  of  these  gross  takings 
over  working  expenses  and  renewals  was  £5,458,960 ; 
and  the  net  profit  (i.e.,  the  surplus  left  after  the  addition 
of  £195,053  "  other  receipts,"  and  the  subtraction  of  in- 
terest and  sinking  fund  on  the  loan  capital)  was  £3,339,583. 
The  capital  expenditure  from  loans  upon  the  three  systems 
up  to  the  date  of  the  Union  was  £65,671,973  2s.  lOd.  ; 
and  the  annual  interest  payable  in  respect  of  it,  amounted 
to  £2,250,754  2s.  2d.  But  to  this  sum,  which  formed 
considerably  more  than  one-half  of  the  total  of  the  public 
debts  of  the  four  colonies  assumed  by  the  Union,  must  be 
added  another  £8,000,000  of  capital  expenditure  upon 
the  Central  South  African  railways,  which  was  provided 
out  of  Railway  or  Government  revenue,  and  other  lesser 
sums.  Thus  the  total  capital  expenditure  on  the  open 
lines  of  the  Union  railways  up  to  the  end  of  the  year  1910 
is  returned  as  £75,100,228,  and  the  interest  payable 
thereon  as  £2,314,430 ;  while  the  total  capital  expenditure 
upon  open  lines,  lines  under  construction,  and  sub- 
sidies to  private  lines,  amounted  to  £77,333,514.  The 
percentage  of  gross  profit  on  capital  entitled  to  interest 
for  the  year  was  £7  12s.  3d.,  an  increase  of  £1  2s.  2d. 
on  the  percentage  for  1909.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
add  that  this  is  a  rate  of  interest  considerably  in  excess 
of  that  commonly  earned  by  railways,  whether  under 
State  or  private  management. 

Of  this  successful  result  the  General  Manager  writes  : 

The  unification  of  the  railway  interests  brought  under  one 
management  7,692  miles  of  completed  line  (7,207  miles  within 

1  Report  of  the  General  Manager  of  Railways  and  Harbours  for 
the  year  ended  December  31st,  1910.  Pretoria,  1911.  (U.  G.. 
No.  39,  1911.) 

262 


REDUCTION   OF   RATES 

and  485  miles  outside  the  Union),  with  approximately  860  miles 
under  construction.  The  railways  within  the  Union  at  the  31st 
of  December,  1910,  comprised  7,041  miles  of  Government-owned 
and  545  miles  of  privately-owned  lines,  serving  an  area  of 
472,730  square  miles.  .  .  . 

The  main  feature  of  the  year's  working,  so  far  as  the  railways 
are  concerned,  has  been  a  substantial  increase  in  practically  all 
classes  of  traffic.  The  anticipation  and  consummation  of  Union 
seem  to  have  established  greater  confidence  in  the  country,  and 
there  has  been  an  unprecedented  development  of  passenger, 
general  goods,  and  coal  traffic,  which  is  indicative  of  a  most 
gratifying  extension  of  business  throughout  the  Union.  There 
also  seems  every  prospect  of  the  export  trade  in  maize  and  wool 
assuming  large  dimensions,  and  there  is  reason  to  hope  that 
meat  will  soon  be  added  to  the  list  of  considerable  exports. 
The  principal  harbours  of  the  Union  have  shared  in  the  general 
prosperity  which  characterised  the  year's  working.  .  .  .  There 
is  every  reason  to  anticipate  a  bright  future,  but  before  any 
general  advance  takes  place  there  is  likely  to  be  a  lull.  It  would, 
therefore,  be  advisable  not  to  be  too  sanguine,  or  to  base  a  policy 
for  the  immediate  future  on  the  exceptional  prosperity  of  the 
period  covered  by  this  report. 

This  statement  of  the  financial  position  of  the  Union 
railways  brings  us  at  once  face  to  face  with  the  very 
important  decision  at  which  the  National  Convention 
arrived  in  respect  of  their  future  management.  As 
subsequently  expressed  in  the  South  Africa  Act,  the 
Convention  determined  that  the  State  railways  should  no 
longer  be  used  as  an  instrument  of  taxation,  but  that  they 
should  be  employed  in  promoting  directly  the  develop- 
ment of  the  agricultural  and  industrial  interests  of  the 
Union  as  a  whole.  And,  moreover,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
this  new  policy  would  lessen  their  earnings  both  by  the 
general  reduction  of  rates  and  by  the  construction  and 
working  of  unremunerative  "  development "  lines,  it 
was  laid  down  that  at  the  end  of  four  years  from  the 
establishment  of  the  Union,  the  Government  should 
cease  to  draw  any  part  of  its  revenue  from  the  State 
railways.  During  this  period,  however,  as  we  have 
seen, l  the  Union  Parliament  "  may  by  law  appropriate  " 

1  Part  II,  Chap.  Ill,  p.  157. 

263 

i8-(2i39) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

any  excess  in  the  earnings  accruing  to  the  Railway  and 
Harbour  Fund  to  make  up  deficiencies  in  the  consolidated 
Revenue  Fund  ;  and  the  contribution  required  from  these 
earnings  by  the  Union  Treasurer  for  the  financial  year 
ending  March  31st,  1912,  was  estimated  at  £1,159,000. 
As  the  railways  earned  in  1910  a  net  profit  of  £3,339,583 
— representing  the  railway  taxation  of  the  four  colonies 
prior  to  the  Union — over  £2,000,000  of  revenue  could  be 
abandoned  by  the  Railway  Board  at  once.  Wisely  applied 
this  ability  to  reduce  the  railway  rates  should  prove  of 
great  benefit  to  South  Africa  ;  since  the  heavy  cost  of 
carriage,  both  by  sea  and  land,  is  an  appreciable  element 
in  the  price  of  all  those  many  "  necessaries  "  that  are 
imported  from  oversea.  And,  as  we  have  noticed  before, 
the  high  cost  of  living  to  Europeans,  especially  in  the 
inland  provinces,  is  a  recognised  economic  evil,  as  tending 
to  retard  materially  the  growth  of  the  European,  as  against 
the  native  population  in  South  Africa.  In  itself,  therefore, 
a  reduction  of  railway  rates  is  most  desirable,  as  naturally 
tending  to  reduce  the  price  of  imported  commodities  of 
all  kinds.  There  is  a  danger,  however,  as  the  experience 
of  the  Crown  Colony  Administration  in  the  new  colonies 
showed,  lest  a  lowering  of  railway  rates  should  turn  out 
to  produce  not  a  reduction  in  the  price  of  goods  to  the 
consumer,  but  an  increase  in  the  profits  of  the  wholesale 
importer  and  the  retail  dealer. 

That  the  Railway  Board  is  not  unconscious  of  this 
danger,  may  be  inferred  from  the  cautious  tone  in  which 
the  General  Manager  concludes  his  remarks  upon  the 
reduction  of  rates.  After  stating  that  substantial  reduc- 
tions have  been  made  in  passenger  fares,  and  that  reduc- 
tions in  the  coal  rates  are  under  consideration,  he  writes  : 

I  gladly  identify  myself  with  the  policy  of  reducing  rates 
where  possible,  but  the  public  interest  will  best  be  served  by 
reductions  being  made  only  after  the  most  careful  deliberation. 
The  reduction  of  rates  is  a  very  popular  demand,  and  every 

264 


RAILWAY    ADMINISTRATION 

interest  presses  for  first  consideration  ;  but  to  comply  with  the 
many  representations  made  would  produce  results  which  would 
be  harmful  to  the  general  progress  of  the  country. 

There  are  two  directions  in  which  it  would  seem  to  be 
possible,  however,  to  use  this  power  of  abandoning  railway 
revenue  in  a  manner  directly  calculated  to  promote  the 
prosperity  of  the  Union  as  a  whole.  Of  these,  the  first 
is  the  endeavour  to  bring  the  cost  of  living  to  Europeans 
in  the  inland  centres  of  industry  down  to  the  level  of  the 
coastal  centres  ;  and  the  second,  to  assist  the  develop- 
ment of  backward  districts  by  the  construction  and 
working  of  new  lines,  which,  although  necessarily  worked 
at  a  loss  to  the  Railway  Board,  would  ultimately  increase 
the  agricultural  and  industrial  resources  of  the  country. 
And  in  this  connection  the  physical  conditions  of  South 
Africa  must  be  recalled.  Owing  to  its  vast  extent 
the  towns  and  villages  into  which  its  meagre  population 
is  gathered  are  separated  by  great  distances.  The 
physical  structure  of  the  country  renders  its  rivers,  which 
are  few  and  comparatively  insignificant,  practically  useless 
for  purposes  of  navigation  ;  and  prevents  the  construc- 
tion of  artificial  waterways.  Transport  by  road  is  costly 
and  slow.  In  South  Africa,  therefore,  railways  con- 
stitute an  economic  factor  of  exceptional  importance. 

These  conditions  explain  and  justify  the  determination 
of  the  National  Convention  not  only  to  place  the  control 
of  this  factor  in  the  hands  of  an  authority  intended  to  be 
unaffected  by  the  influences  of  party  politics,  but  to 
treat  transport  and  communication  by  railway  as  an 
elementary  necessity  of  the  national  life,  which  the 
State  must  cheapen  and  facilitate  in  every  way. 

The  wisdom  of  this  determination  is  conspicuous.  It 
remains,  however,  for  the  people  of  the  Union  to  see  to  it, 
that  not  only  is  the  policy  of  providing  railway  communi- 
cation at  cost  price  carried  into  effect,  but  that  the 
independence  of  the  railway  administration  is  maintained 

265 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

unimpaired.  Political  interference,  if  it  were  permitted, 
might  cause  a  useless  line  to  be  built  across  the  veld  to  a 
party-leader's  homestead,  and  then — nowhere.  And — 
an  evil  worse  than  "  log-rolling  " — it  might  undermine 
the  discipline,  and  therefore  the  efficiency,  of  the 
employees. 

Here  we  touch  upon  the  weak  point  in  the  system  of 
the  State  ownership  of  railways.  According  to  the 
report  the  number  of  persons  employed  on  the  Union 
railways  at  December  31st,  1910,  was  as  follows  : 

Whites  (excluding  White  labourers)      . .          . .  23,165 

White  labourers 3,419 

Coloured  and  Natives 19,365 

Indians 3,813 

Total      . .  49,762 


And  on  the  same  date  there  were  employed  on  the 
harbours  : 


Whites 

Coloured  and  Natives 

Indians 


Total 

Total  for  Railways  and  Harbours 


The  successful  handling  of  a  staff  so  numerous,  and 
having  a  predominant  European  element,  must  be  a 
difficult  matter  at  all  times  in  South  Africa,  where 
white  men  are  jealously  resentful  of  any  encroachment 
upon  what  they  believe  to  be  their  just  rights.  But 
if  the  original  difficulty  of  the  task  is  to  be  increased  by 
political  interference,  it  will  quickly  become  impossible. 

Here  again  it  would  appear  that  the  Board  are  fully 
alive  to  the  danger.  Forewarned  is  forearmed ;  and 
we  may  hope  that  the  emphatic  warning  of  the  Union 
General-Manager  on  this  subject,  embodied  in  this — 

266 


POLITICAL   INTERFERENCE 

his  first — report,  will  serve  to  arrest  the  evil,  before 
it  approaches  in  South  Africa  the  serious  proportions  to 
which,  apparently,  it  has  attained  in  Australia.  He 
writes : 

What  is  most  needed  now  is  some  respite  during  which  to 
frame  and  give  effect  to  a  constructive  policy.  The  railway 
staff  during  recent  years  has  been  much  disturbed  by  constant 
investigations.  In  1907-8  there  was  the  Central  South  African 
Railways  Commission,  which  was  probably  the  most  thorough 
inquiry  of  the  kind  ever  made  ;  reorganisation  followed,  with 
the  tremendous  detail  it  involved.  Then  came  the  Truter 
Inquiry  in  1909,  and  a  further  Committee  of  Investigation  is 
now  to  be  appointed  which  will  deal  with  many  matters  already 
inquired  into  and  duplicate  much  of  the  work  undertaken  by 
the  Staff  Committee1  already  referred  to,  the  main  duty  of 
which  has  been  to  make  investigations  in  connection  with  the 
several  services  and  devise  means  of  assimilating  the  conditions. 
Added  to  all  this,  there  is  the  constant  political  tendency  on  the 
part  of  those  not  responsible  for  the  management  of  railway 
affairs  to  interfere  in  personal  staff  matters,  thus  rendering  it 
almost  impossible  for  the  Government  and  the  Administration 
to  manage  successfully  the  variety  of  interests  of  a  service  like 
the  Union  railways,  and  resulting  in  much  work,  of  questionable 
benefit  both  to  the  staff  and  to  the  service,  being  thrust  upon 
the  responsible  officers  of  the  Administration.  But  South  Africa 
is  not  alone  in  this  unfortunate  experience,  as  the  following 
observations  made  by  the  Commissioner  of  Railways  for  Western 
Australia,  in  his  report  for  the  year  ended  the  30th  of  June, 
1910,  will  indicate  : 

"  The  methods  by  which  these  matters  (namely,  certain 
grievances  which  were  discussed  at  a  meeting  arranged  by  the 
Honourable  the  Premier  with  certain  members  of  Parliament 
and  representatives  of  the  Railway  Officers'  and  Amalgamated 
Employes'  Societies)  have  been  dealt  with,  and  the  apparent 
acquiescence  of  the  Government  and  Parliament  in  their  refer- 
ence to  political  action  for  settlement  seem  to  indicate  a  desire 
for  the  amendment  of  those  provisions  of  the  Government  Rail- 
ways Act  which  remove,  or  were  intended  to  remove,  the 
administration  of  the  Department  from  political  influence. 

1  Pending  legislation  for  unifying  the  grading  and  rates  of 
pay  in  the  [formerly  existing]  three  railway  systems,  "  a  Staff 
Committee,  consisting  of  officers  and  employes  from  the  different 
sections  of  the  service,  has  been  appointed  to  inquire  into  existing 
conditions,  and  thereafter  make  recommendations  as  to  the 
grading  and  pay  of  all  classes  of  the  staff." 

267 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Unless  the  Act  is  so  amended,  however,  its  provisions  should, 
I  submit  with  all  due  respect,  be  observed,  and  while  they  con- 
tinue as  they  now  are  I  can  only  sincerely  urge  that  members 
of  the  Legislature  assist  me  in  the  execution  of  my  duty  as 
denned  by  the  Act,  especially  by.  refraining  from  actions  tending 
to  lessen  the  authority  which  that  responsibility  necessarily 
entails  and  requires.  Further,  while  I  have  no  desire  to  place 
anything  in  the  way  of  the  Government  improving  the  position 
of  the  employes  if  they  consider  it  necessary  to  do  so,  either  in 
pay  or  condition  of  service,  it  is  certainly  desirable,  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  authority  referred  to,  that  such  decisions  of 
the  Government  should  be  given  direct  to  me,  so  that  I  alone 
may  deal  with  the  employes  concerned." 

Australia  is  frequently  quoted  in  matters  of  service  conditions, 
and  the  foregoing  comments  are  worthy  of  careful  deliberation 
by  those  charged  with  the  administration  of  the  country's 
interests,  if  administration  is  to  be  effected  through  the  con- 
stituted railway  authorities.  It  is  subversive  of  all  discipline 
and  good  and  efficient  management  to  encourage  or  allow  railway 
servants  to  ignore  their  superior  officers  in  advancing  their 
grievances,  fancied  or  real.  Every  railway  servant  has  the 
right  of  appeal  to  the  Minister  or  the  Railway  Board,  but  all 
appeals  should  be  made  through  the  medium  of  the  servant's 
superior  officer.  Business  experience  has  shown  that  efficiency 
and  economy  can  best  be  obtained  when  the  authority  of  the 
senior  officer  is  upheld  as  far  as  possible  consistent  with  justice. 

The  fact  that  the  South  African  railways  have  now 
reached  a  high  state  of  efficiency  would  make  it  more 
than  ever  deplorable,  if  this  insidious  evil  were  allowed 
to  wreck  the  Union  system,  or  even  to  impair  the  great 
advances  which  have  been  so  recently  achieved.  We 
have  seen  that  the  financial  results  obtained  in  the  first 
year  of  the  Union  are  exceptionally  favourable.  Nor 
is  the  system,  taken  as  a  whole,  deficient  in  general 
equipment.  During  the  years  intervening  between  the 
Peace  of  Vereeniging  and  the  birth  of  the  Union  the 
three  separate  State  systems  were  greatly  improved  in 
permanent  way,  rolling-stock,  general  equipment,  and 
efficiency  of  working.  While,  however,  good  results 
were  secured  in  the  coastal  colonies,  the  most  con- 
spicuous progress  was  made  in  the  new  colonies  under 
the  Crown  Colony  Administration.  Here,  mainly  owing 

268 


PROGRESS    SINCE   THE    WAR 

to  the  excellency  of  Lord  Milner's  financial  arrangements, 
more    ample  funds  were  available  for  railway  develop- 
ment than  in  the  Cape  and  Natal.     In  1902  (the  year  of 
the  Peace)  there  were  on  the  Central  South  African  rail- 
ways only  26  locomotives  of  an  average  tractive  force 
of  25,000  Ibs.  and  over  ;    in  1908,  there  were  137.     In 
1902  the  number  of  trucks  of  a  running  capacity  of 
30  tons  or  over  was  540 ;   in  1909  it  had  risen  to  2,024. 
In  1902  the  total  area  of  the  covered  railway  shops  in 
Pretoria  was  6,000  square  yards  ;    to-day  it  is  45,500, 
and  the  enlarged  shops  are  vastly  improved  in  equip- 
ment.    Before  the  Crown  Colony  regime  gave  place  to 
Responsible  Government  (1906-7)  the  permanent  way  of 
the  joint  system  of  the  two  colonies  had  been  completely 
remodelled.     All  bridges  on  the  main  lines  had  been 
rebuilt  or  adequately  strengthened  ;    where  traffic  was 
most  heavy  the  lines  had  been  re-graded  ;    dangerous 
curves  had  been  removed,  and  badly  constructed  portions 
of  the  line  replaced  by  convenient  deviations ;    and  to 
serve  the  more  powerful  engines,  and  the  heavier,  though 
more  economic,  trains  now  employed,  the  main  trunk  lines 
had  been  relaid  with  new  80  Ib.  rails.     At  the  same  time 
the  inadequate  station  buildings  and  goods  siding  accom- 
modation had  been  enlarged,   or  altogether  replaced  ; 
storage  dams  had    been    constructed,    and    the    most 
approved    appliances    for    watering    engines    installed ; 
spacious  engine  sheds  and  mechanical  coaling  plants  had 
been  erected  at  the  principal  locomotive  depots  ;    and 
the  important  stations,  and  most  of  the  lines  traversed 
by  fast  passenger  trains,  had  been  provided  with  the 
most  recent  and  efficient  systems  of  signalling  and  inter- 
locking.    Moreover,  the  financial  results  obtained  amply 
justified  the  large  expenditure  required  to  carry  out  the 
expansion  and  improvement  of  the  system.     Within  the 
period  of  Crown  Colony  rule,  while  the  rates  were  lowered 
to  an  extent  which  represented  the  remission  of  £1,500,000 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

of  annual  taxation  by  railways,  the  earnings  of  the 
Central  South  African  Railways  were  sufficient  to  pro- 
vide year  by  year  the  interest,  sinking  fund,  and  charges 
payable  upon  the  whole  of  the  £35,000,000  Guaranteed 
Loan,  and,  in  addition,  to  make  a  small  contribution 
towards  defraying  the  cost  of  other  services  common  to 
the  two  colonies. 

These  details  refer  exclusively  to  the  railway  develop- 
ment which  was  an  essential  feature  in  the  economic 
reconstruction  of  the  late  Republics — a  reconstruction 
marvellous  alike  in  its  rapidity  as  in  the  variety  and 
completeness  of  its  operations — effected  under  the 
masterly  guidance  of  Lord  Milner.  They  may,  however, 
be  taken  as  representative  of  the  kind  of  improvements 
which,  on  a  lesser  scale,  were  carried  out  on  the  Cape 
and  Natal  systems.  And  so,  to-day,  the  European 
visitor  is  generally  ready  to  admit  that  the  shortcomings 
of  the  South  African  railways  in  the  matter  of  speed  and 
frequency  of  service  are  counterbalanced  by  the  con- 
sideration which  is  shown  for  the  comfort  of  the  traveller. 
The  length  of  the  journeys,  which  is  the  distinctive 
feature  of  railway  travelling  in  South  Africa,  and  the 
climatic  conditions  of  the  country,  have  together  deter- 
mined the  character  of  the  carriages  and  the  nature  of 
the  accommodation  to  be  provided.  The  coaches, 
accordingly,  are  constructed  on  the  corridor  plan,  and 
furnished  with  window  appliances  for  excluding  dust 
and  sun,  while  freely  admitting  the  air.  The  seats  in 
every  compartment  can  be  converted  readily  into  sleep- 
ing quarters,  and  all  the  main  line  trains  have  dining 
cars,  where  breakfast,  lunch,  and  dinner  can  be  obtained 
at  prices  which  are  not  merely  moderate  in  view  of  the 
higher  cost  of  living  in  South  Africa,  but  are  actually 
lower  than  those  charged  on  some  British  railways. 

As  Capetown  is  the  main  port  for  the  arrival  and 
departure  of  oversea  passengers,  it  will  be  convenient  to 

270 


PASSENGER   TRAINS 

take  the  railway  service  as  it  runs,  north  and  east,  from 
this  point,  remembering,  however,  that  there  are  fast 
through  trains  from  all  four  ports  to  the  Rand.  From 
Capetown,  then,  apart  from  communication  with  the 
inland  towns  of  the  Cape  Province,  trains  run  twice  a 
day  to  the  Transvaal ;  once  a  day  to  the  Free  State, 
Natal,  and  Delagoa  Bay ;  and  three  times  a  week  to 
Rhodesia.  In  the  service  thus  maintained  one  or  two 
of  the  most  noticeable  trains  may  be  mentioned.  To 
begin  with  the  longest  journey,  trains  for  the  Victoria 
Falls  leave  Capetown  on  Tuesday  and  Friday  about  mid- 
day, connect  with  the  "  Zambezi  Express  "  at  Kimberley, 
and  reach  the  Victoria  Falls  on  the  following  Saturday 
and  Tuesday  respectively,  thus  taking  four  days  to  cover 
the  1,642  miles.  The  Tuesday  train  connects  with  the 
arrival  of  the  outward  mail  boat,  and  enables  the  traveller 
to  reach  the  Falls  within  twenty-one  days  of  his  departure 
from  London.  The  corresponding  southward  trains  meet 
the  "  Rhodesian  Express  "  at  Buluwayo  on  Sunday  and 
Friday,  connect  with  the  ordinary  Transvaal  train  at 
Kimberley,  and  arrive  at  Capetown  on  the  following 
Wednesday  and  Sunday  respectively,  the  former  (leaving 
the  Falls  on  the  preceding  Saturday)  connecting  with 
the  departure  of  the  homeward  mail  boat  from  Capetown 
on  Wednesday.  The  daily  train  to  Delagoa  Bay  from 
Capetown  comes  next  in  point  of  distance,  and  takes 
nearly  three  days  for  the  journey  (about  1,200  miles). 
The  "  Transvaal  Limited  "  leaves  Capetown  on  Tuesday 
and  Saturday  at  9  a.m.,  and  runs  to  Johannesburg  and 
Pretoria  by  the  quickest  route,  viz.,  via  Kimberley  and 
Fourteen  Streams.  Corresponding  coast  ward  trains  leave 
Pretoria  and  Johannesburg  on  Thursday  and  Saturday 
evenings,  and  respectively  reach  Capetown  early  on  the 
following  Saturday  and  Monday  mornings.  On  Thurs- 
day morning,  also,  at  9  a.m.,  the  "  Orange  Limited  " 
runs  from  Capetown  to  the  Transvaal  by  the  old  route 

271 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

through  the  Free  State.  The  "  Imperial  Mail  Train-de- 
Luxe,"  which  carries  passengers  from  Pretoria  and 
Johannesburg  direct  to  the  docks  at  Capetown,  follows 
the  same  route.  It  leaves  late  on  Monday  evening,  and 
arrives  at  the  docks  at  2.5  p.m.  on  Wednesday,  where 
its  passengers  have  only  to  walk  on  board  the  homeward 
mail  boat. 

Of  the  trains  running  between  Johannesburg  and 
Capetown,  five  trains  a  week — three  Capetown  to 
Johannesburg,  and  two  Johannesburg  to  Capetown — 
are  now  scheduled  to  perform  the  journey  in  thirty-six 
hours.  It  may  be  added  that  on  the  arrival  of  the  out- 
ward mail  boat  at  Capetown  on  Tuesday  in  each  week, 
a  special  train,  carrying  mails  only,  is  at  once  despatched 
from  the  docks  ;  and  by  this  means  the  mails  are 
delivered  with  the  least  possible  delay  in  all  parts  of 
South  Africa. 

The  following  tables  will  exhibit  the  greater  length  of 
the  journeys  which  have  to  be  taken  in  travelling  from 
place  to  place  in  South  Africa  by  a  comparison  of  the 
distances  separating  some  well-known  towns  respectively 
in  South  Africa  and  in  Great  Britain  : 

South  African  Distances.  Miles  by  Rail. 

Capetown  to  Kimberley  .          . .          . .          . .  647 


Bloemfontein 
Johannesburg 
Pretoria 
Buluwayo  . . 
Victoria  Falls 
Beira 


750 
957 
1,001 
1,362 
1,642 
2,037 


Bwana  M'Kubwa  (Northern  Rhodesia).  2,142 

Johannesburg  to  Durban            . .          . .          . .          . .  482 

East  London              665 

Port  Elizabeth           712 

British  Distances.  Miles  by  Rail- 

London  (by  Great  Northern)  to  York  . .          . .'         ...  188 

Edinboro'       . .          . .  393 

Glasgow          . .          . .  440 

Aberdeen        ..          ..  523 

,,           Inverness       . .          . .  558 

272 


THE   POST   OFFICE 

British  Distances.  Miles  by  Rail. 

London  (by  Great  Western)  to  Bristol  .  .  118 

Plymouth  .  .  247 

Penzance  .  .  325 

London   (by  L.  &  N.-W)  to  Birmingham  .  .  113 

Manchester  .  .  183 

Liverpool  .  .  192 

COMMUNICATION  BY  POST,  TELEGRAPH,  AND 
TELEPHONE 

On  the  eve  of  the  establishment  of  the  Union  the  Post- 
masters-General of  the  four  colonies,  having  met  in  con- 
ference at  Capetown  (February  3rd-26th,  1910),  pre- 
pared a  Report  on  the  assimilation  of  the  postal  rates  of 
the  several  colonies,  and  drafted  a  Bill  to  consolidate 
their  respective  postal  and  telegraph  laws  for  subsequent 
submission  to  the  Union  Parliament.  On  May  31st, 
1910,  the  four  Colonial  General  Post  Offices  were  amalga- 
mated and  placed  under  one  control,  and  the  General 
Post  Office  of  the  Union  was  established  at  Capetown. 
The  Postmasters-General  of  the  Transvaal,  the  Orange 
River  Colony,  and  Natal  retired  on  pension,  and  Mr. 
W.  T.  Hoal,  the  Postmaster-General  of  the  Cape,  was 
appointed  to  act  as  Postmaster-General  for  the  Union. 
Three  out  of  the  four  Post  Office  secretaryships  were 
abolished,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  officials  who 
were  retired,  the  remainder  of  the  principal  administra- 
tive officers  were  brought  to  Capetown,  where  duties  of 
the  same  class  as  those  which  they  had  performed  in 
their  respective  colonies  were  allotted  to  them.  Such 
changes  in  the  direction  of  the  unification  of  the  charges 
for  postal  and  telegraphic  services  in  the  four  provinces 
as  could  be  made  without  fresh  legislation  were  carried 
out  at  once ;  and  provision  for  securing  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  the  authority  of  Parliament  for  the 
further  changes  required  was  made.  At  the  same  time 
the  process  of  reorganising  the  department  in  all  its 

273 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

branches  was  begun,  without  waiting  for  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  to  report  upon  it.1 

The  revenue  and  expenditure  of  the  Union  Post  Office 
for  the  seven  months  May  31st  to  December  31st,  1910, 
were  as  follows  : 

Revenue.  £  £ 

Postal  566,088 

Telegraph  and  Telephone 288,088 


Total  854,176 

Expenditure. 
Postal,  Telegraph,  and  Telephone  . .  800,552 


Surplus,  or  Net  Revenue  . .  £53,824 


On  December  31st,  1910,  there  were  2,466  post  and 
telegraph  offices  open  ;  752  receptacles  for  letters,  etc., 
were  in  use  ;  and  there  were  provided,  in  addition,  28 
travelling  post  boxes,  and  9  post  boxes  on  Union-Castle 
steamers.  On  the  same  date  there  were  1,282  telegraph 
offices  open  to  the  public  of  the  Union,  of  which  709 
were  postal,  573  railway,  and  277  were  worked  by  tele- 
phone. The  length  of  the  telegraph  lines  open  was 
12,516  miles,  and  that  of  the  wires  47,421  miles.  In 
addition  to  these,  the  department  was  maintaining 
6,482  miles  of  wire  in  the  Cape  Province,  and  2,547  miles 
in  Natal,  on  behalf  of  the  railway  administration. 

In  the  year  direct  telegraphic  connection  had  been 
established  with  German  South-west  Africa,  and  with 
the  Belgian  Congo.  In  the  case  of  the  former  country, 
communication  was  opened  between  Capetown  and 
Warmbad  through  a  repeating  apparatus  at  O'okiep, 
and  the  distance  was  530  miles,  of  which  only  40  miles 
were  in  German  territory.  In  the  case  of  the  latter, 

1  The  above  account  is  taken  from  the  Report  of  the  Union 
Postmaster-General  for  the  year  1910.  Mr.  Hoal,  the  first  acting 
P.M.G.,  died  suddenly  on  October  18th,  1910.  The  Report  is 
presented  by  "  Jer.  Wilson,  Acting  for  the  Postmaster-General," 
and  bears  date,  Capetown,  April  20th,  1911. 

274 


WIRELESS 

communication  was  opened  through  Broken  Hill,  in 
Northern  Rhodesia  ;  and  the  offices  in  the  Congo  which 
accepted  public  telegrams  were  Chinsinda,  Elizabeth- 
ville,  Mikola,  and  Sakania,  all  of  which  were  on,  and 
worked  by,  the  Katanga  Railways. 

The  capital  expenditure  on  the  telegraphs  of  the 
Union,  up  to  December  31st,  1910,  was  £1,077,189. 
In  spite  of  economic  administration,  the  telegraph  service 
is  worked  at  a  loss  to  the  State.  In  the  period  May  31st 
to  December  31st,  1910,  the  number  of  public  messages 
conveyed,  exclusive  of  Government,  railway,  Imperial, 
and  military  telegrams,  was  2,402,027,  and  the  receipts 
on  account  of  them  amounted  to  £152,900.  It  may 
be  noticed  that  the  Press  is  charged  at  a  rate  only 
one-fourth  of  that  paid  by  the  general  public. 

The  Post  Office  Savings  Bank  of  the  Union  is  in  an 
eminently  satisfactory  condition  ;  but  the  progress  of 
this  useful  institution  will  be  reserved  for  consideration 
in  connection  with  the  general  banking  statistics  of  the 
Union. l 

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY 

The  following  information  on  this  subject,  which  is 
taken  from  the  Report  of  the  Union  Postmaster-General 
for  1910,  will  be  of  interest.  A  radiotelegraph  station 
was  opened  at  Durban  on  June  13th,  1910,  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  shipping  community  and  the  travelling 
public.  The  station  has  a  minimum  sea  range  by  day 
of  250  miles,  but,  at  night,  when  signalling  conditions 
are  improved,  communications  are  frequently  exchanged 
with  vessels  at  a  distance  of  over  1,000  miles.  At  the 
time  the  station  was  opened  there  were  only  three  vessels 
trading  in  South  African  waters  which  were  able  to 
exchange  signals  with  it ;  but  on  December  31st,  1910, 
there  were  thirty  vessels  among  those  trading  with,  or 
calling  periodically  at,  South  African  ports,  which  were 

1  See  forward,  p.  384. 

275 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

fitted  with  wireless  apparatus ;    and  other  vessels  were 
being  similarly  equipped. 

Tenders  for  the  erection  of  a  wireless  telegraph  station 
in  the  Cape  Province  were  called  for  in  June,  1910,  and 
that  of  the  Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Co.  was  accepted. 
The  contract  was  for  the  erection  of  a  5  kilowatt  station, 
with  a  guaranteed  minimum  sea  range  by  day  of  400  miles, 
and  by  night  of  from  600  to  1,600  miles.  It  was  decided 
that  the  first  station  should  be  erected  at  Slangkop  on 
the  Cape  Peninsula.  A  suitable  piece  of  Government 
land  was  selected,  and  the  erection  of  an  operating  house 
was  put  in  hand  by  the  Public  Works  Department. 
The  station  itself  was  expected  to  be  in  working  order 
by  the  end  of  April,  1911. 

TELEPHONES 

On  December  31st,  1910,  there  were  in  the  Union 
103  exchanges  and  614  call  offices,  with  10,483  exchange 
lines,  15,378  telephones,  and  46,165  miles  of  wire  in  use. 
The  capital  expenditure  on  telephones  up  to  this  date 
was  £893,239 ;  but  a  further  expenditure  on  trunk  lines 
was  contemplated,  and  the  value  of  the  Union  system 
was  expected  to  stand  shortly  at  £1,250,000. 

This  convenient  method  of  communication  is  being 
developed  rapidly,  and  efforts  are  being  made  to  cheapen, 
and  thereby  popularise,  its  use  throughout  the  Union. 
During  the  last  three  years  the  capital  expenditure  on 
telephones  in  the  four  colonies  has  grown  from  £508,562 
to  £893,239,  while  the  number  of  telephones  in  use  has 
risen  from  10,569  to  15,378.  The  financial  position  of 
the  Union  Department  in  1910  was  as  follows  : 

Revenue            £167,271 

Expenditure  (including  interest  on  loans  and 

depreciation) 189,049 

Deficit 21,778 

The  subjoined  tables  exhibit  the  extent  to  which  the 
telephone  has  been  utilised  in  the  several  provinces  of 

276 


TELEPHONE    CHARGES 


the  Union,  and  in  the  Union  itself  as  compared  with 
other  countries. 

RATIO  OF  TELEPHONES  TO  POPULATION  IN  THE  UNION 

Cape i  to  every  126  Europeans  or  to  every  512  of  total  population. 

Transvaal        i       „          36          „  „        ,,167       „  „ 

Orange  Free  State         . .     . .  i       „        198  ,,  „        „     530       „  „ 

Natal  (excluding  the  popula- 
tion of  Durban,  and  its 

municipal  telephone  system)  i  „  40  „  „  „  672  „  „ 

The  corresponding  figures  in  other  countries  are  : 

U.S.  of  America  .  z  to  every      n     of  population 

Sweden    . .  .  i            „           30             „ 

Germany  .  i            „            65             ,, 

Great  Britain  .  i            , 

Johannesburg  .  i            , 

Capetown  .  i            , 


20  of  European  or  40  of  total  population 
29        »        »,         49 


In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  cost  of  telephone  "  plant  " 
is  greater  in  South  Africa  than  in  most  other  countries, 
the  rates  which  are  charged  must  be  considered  very 
moderate.  The  following  information  on  this  point  is 
given  in  the  Postmaster-General's  Report  for  1910 : 

The  subscription  rates,  as  reduced  at  October,  1910,  within 
the  Exchange  Area  (i.e.,  within  a  radius  of  25  miles  from  the 
Central  Exchange  at  Pretoria  and  Johannesburg  respectively), 
are  based  on  the  "  measured  service  "  method  of  charging,  which 
was  introduced  in  1908.  And  the  same  system  is  to  be  adopted 
in  Capetown  and  its  suburbs.  They  are  : 

900  free  calls 


Business  Premises  (local  rate) 

„       (area     „  ) 

Residences  (local    ,,   ) 


f  10    o 
to    o    o 
500 


600 


The  charge  for  extra  calls  is  Id.  ;  calls  to  exchanges  from  5  to 
10  miles  distant  count  as  two  local  calls,  and  to  exchanges  over 
10  miles  as  three  local  calls.  The  Business  (area)  subscription 
covers  900  local  and  area  calls,  and  the  extra  charge  for  either 
is  Id.  The  premises  must  be  not  more  than  2  miles  distant 
from  the  Exchange. 

The  "  measured  rate  "  system  is  not  applied  to  the  smaller 
exchanges.  The  fixed  annual  rentals  charged  included  an 
unlimited  number  of  calls,  but  the  charges  in  the  different  pro- 
vinces had  not  yet  been  assimilated.  They  were  : 


Free  State 

Great 

Cape. 

vaal 

Natal. 

(Harri- 

Britain 

smith). 

(Provincial) 

Length  of  line  allowed  for  mini 

mum  subscription  in  miles 

z 

2 

2 

z 

z 

Business  Subscription     .  . 
Total  Charge  for  a  2-mile  line 
Domestic  Subscription    .  . 
Total  Charge  for  a  2-mile  line 

A 
% 

£zz 

}       ^6 
•\ 

1\ 

£10 
O5 

4 
& 

277 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  trunk  line  charges  in  South  Africa  compare  with 
those  of  Australia  and  Great  Britain  as  under  : 

Distance.  South  Africa.         Australia.        Great  Britain. 

25  miles.  -/3  -/4  -/3 

50       „  -      -/6  -/8  -/6 

75       .,  -/9  I/-  -/9 

100       „  I/-  1/4  l/- 

200       „  2/-  2/4  2/6 

400       ,,  4/-  4/4  5/- 


278 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  MINES 

FROM  an  industrial  point  of  view,  South  Africa  has  been 
made  by  its  mines.  The  predominance  of  the  mining 
industry  in  the  economic  system  of  the  Union  will  be 
seen  by  a  glance  at  the  subjoined  table,  which  reveals 
the  fact  that  the  gold  and  diamond  mines  provide 
78- 5  per  cent,  of  the  total  exports  from  South  African 
ports. 

Exports  of  South  African  produce  from  South  African 
ports  during  the  year  1910  : 


Article. 

Value. 

Percentage 
of  Total. 

Gold,  Raw      

Diamonds 
Other  Articles  (including  Specie)    .  . 

Total 

I 

34,322,136 
8,480,875 
11,706,259 

63-0 
15-5 
21-5 

54,509,270 

100-0 

(From  the  Union  Department  of  Commerce  and  Industries.) 

First  diamonds,  then  gold,  wrought  mightily  in  the 
land,  and  together  they  have  changed  South  Africa  from 
a  poor  and  struggling  pastoral  country  into  the  industrial 
compeer  of  the  great  dominions,  Canada  and  Australia. 
Both  offered  to  enterprising  men  the  prospect  of  the 
rapid  acquisition  of  wealth,  and  thereby  drew  to  South 
Africa  both  energy  and  capital.  Of  the  two,  gold  has 
"had  the  greater  influence.  Just  as  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  saw  the  magnet  of  gold  discovery  at 
work  peopling  North  America  and  Australia,  so  its 
closing  years  witnessed  a  great  demonstration  of  the 

279 

19— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

same  creative  force  in  South  Africa.  And  here,  as  we 
know,  the  economic  changes  of  the  gold  era  gave  rise  to 
political  changes  that  exercised  a  supreme  influence  in 
moulding  the  destiny  of  the  country. 

No  material  exists  at  present  sufficient  to  furnish  an 
exact  and  complete  account  of  the  mineral  deposits  of 
South  Africa  :  we  know,  however,  that  they  are  both 
varied  and  widely  distributed.  Apart  from  diamonds 
and  gold,  iron  is  found  in  all  provinces  of  the  Union,  but 
is  not  worked ; l  but  in  Southern  Rhodesia  the  annual 
production  of  chrome  iron  ore  reached  53,499  tons  in 
quantity  and  £118,064  in  value,  in  1911.  Coal  is  found 
and  worked  in  all  provinces  of  the  Union  and  in  Southern 
Rhodesia  ;  copper  in  the  Cape,  the  Transvaal,  and  in 
Northern  Rhodesia  ;  silver  in  the  Transvaal  and  Southern 
Rhodesia  ;  and  tin  in  the  Transvaal  and  in  Swaziland. 

Of  these  lesser  mining  industries,  copper  is  the  oldest 
and  coal  the  most  important.  Copper  mining  was  begun 
in  the  Cape  Colony  in  the  neighbourhood  of  O'okiep,  in 
the  division  of  Namaqualand,  as  early  as  1852.  In  1864 
the  annual  export  had  risen  to  £100,000  in  value  ;  and 
in  1909  the  copper  production  of  the  Cape  was  returned 
as  being  95,530  tons  of  the  approximate  local  value  of 
£426,925. 

The  value  of  coal  as  a  factor  in  the  industrial  develop- 
ment of  a  country  need  not  be  emphasised ;  and  South 
Africa  is  fortunate,  as  we  have  seen,  in  being  well  sup- 
plied both  with  this  useful  mineral  and  with  iron.  The 
coal  mines  of  the  Cape  Province  are  in  the  Stormberg 
range,  and  the  coal,  which  is  of  good  quality  (giving 
results  equivalent  to  two-thirds  of  those  obtained  from 
an  equal  quantity  of  imported  Merthyr  coal),  is  largely 
used  for  locomotives  on  the  Union  railways.  The  Natal 
deposits  are  in  the  highest  and  most  northern  of  the 
three  "  terraces  "  into  which  the  area  of  this  province 

1  See  forward,  however,  at  p.  498. 

280 


COAL    PRODUCTION 


is  divided,  and  Dundee  is  the  centre  of  the  colliery  dis- 
trict. The  Natal  coal  production  is  mainly  sent  to 
Durban,  where  it  is  shipped  for  bunker  purposes,  or 
exported  for  consumption  in  the  southern  parts  of  Africa, 
Asia,  and  America,  and  occasionally  in  Australia.  The 
Free  State  deposits  are  found  in  the  north  of  the  pro- 
vince on  the  Transvaal  border,  and  the  output  of  the 
collieries  is  consumed  locally.  The  main  coal  area  in 
the  Transvaal  extends  from  the  Vaal  River  in  the  south 
to  Middelburg  in  the  north,  and  from  the  Rand  westward 
to  the  Drakenberg  Mountains  ;  and  there  are  lesser  areas 
to  the  south-west  of  the  Rand.  The  collieries  are,  there- 
fore, in  close  juxtaposition  to  the  great  goldfield,  and 
they  supply  coal  for  both  the  industrial  and  the  domestic 
needs  of  the  Rand  at  moderate  rates.  In  Southern 
Rhodesia  the  Wankie  coalfields,  which  lie  some  200  miles 
north-west  of  Buluwayo,  are  just  beginning  to  make  an 
appreciable  contribution  to  the  resources  of  Rhodesia. 

The  absolute  and  relative  coal  production  of  South 
Africa  is  exhibited  in  the  two  following  tables  : 

Table  showing  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  coal 
produced  in  the  four  provinces  of  the  Union  and  in 
Southern  Rhodesia  in  1909 : 


Tons. 

Value. 

Cape 
Natal   .. 
Free  State 
Transvaal 
Southern  Rhodesia 

76,846 
1,786,583 
420,170 
3,235,407 
152,583 

I 

65,972 
633,604 
125,627 
916,452 
77,313 

Total 

5,671,589 

£1.  818,968 

Table  showing  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  coal 
produced    in    South    Africa,    the    Commonwealth    of 

281 


THE  UNION    OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


Australia,    the  Dominion  of  New  Zealand,   and  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  in  1909  : 


Tons. 

Value. 

South  Africa  

5,671,589 

* 

1,818,968 

Australia 
New  Zealand 
Canada 

8,203,221 
1,911,247 
9,296,388 

3,120,554 
1,038,742 
5,022,000 

[Compiled  from  the  Statistical  Abstract  for  the  British 
Dominions,  etc.,  1910.] 

Taking  the  Transvaal  coal  industry  by  itself,  we  find 
that,  in  1910,  nineteen  companies,  of  which  four  were 
in  the  Springs-Brakpan  area,  twelve  in  the  Middelburg 
area,  and  three  in  other  districts  (including  the  Vereeni- 
ging  Estates  Central  Colliery),  produced  an  output  of 
3,970,069  tons,  of  the  value  at  the  pit's  mouth  of 
£986,253.  In  the  same  year,  six  companies  distributed 
dividends  to  the  total  value  of  £167,774.  The  number 
of  white  employe's  was  469,  and  of  coloured  8,327  ;  and 
the  wages  bill  for  the  year  showed  a  total  of  £363,559,  of 
which  sum  £56,862  was  paid  in  salaries,  £101,741  in 
wages  to  whites,  and  £204,956  in  wages  to  coloured 
labourers. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  progress  of  the  Trans- 
vaal coal  industry  since  1901  (at  periods  of  three  years)  : 


Year. 

Tons. 

Value  at 
Pit's  Mouth. 

Value 
per  Ton. 

£ 

s.  d. 

1901 

797,144 

329,113 

8     3 

1904     .. 

2,409,033 

883,891 

7     4 

1907 

2,883,342 

775,721 

5     5 

1910     .. 

3,970,069 

986,253 

5     0 

[From  the  Wit.  Chamber  of  Mines  Report,  1911.] 
282 


SILVER   AND    BASE   METALS 


The  two  subjoined  tables,  which  show  respectively  the 
progress  of  the  silver  and  base  metal  mining  in  the  Trans- 
vaal, will  serve  to  complete  this  account  of  the  lesser 
mining  industries  of  South  Africa. 

TRANSVAAL  SILVER  OUTPUT  since  1903 — (at  three-year 
periods)  : 


Year. 

Fine  ozs. 

Value. 

1903  
1906  
1909  
1910  

349,955 
632,188 
804,222 
823,752 

I 

36,744 
78,617 
84,168 
88,029 

TRANSVAAL  BASE  METAL  OUTPUT  since  1908 : 


Year. 

Tons 
Copper  Ore. 

Value. 

Tons 
Tin  Ore. 

Value. 

i 

i 

1908..      .. 

1,144 

33,018 

1,426 

97,128 

1909..      .. 

1,947 

53,950 

2,647 

227,752 

1910..      .. 

3,181 

77,612 

3,383 

328,487 

[From  the  Chamber  of  Mints  Report.] 

THE  DIAMOND  MINES 

The  first  discovery  of  diamonds  in  South  Africa  was 
purely  fortuitous,  and  as  such  it  presents  a  sharp  con- 
trast to  the  laborious  and  persistent  effort  by  which  the 
existence  of  the  famous  gold-bearing  conglomerates  of 
the  Rand  Basin  was  revealed.  In  1867  a  hunter  or 
trader,  O'Reilly,  found  at  a  Dutch  farmstead,  in  the 
Hopetown  district  of  the  Cape  Colony,  among  a  collec- 
tion of  river  pebbles,  a  white  stone,  to  which  he  took  a 
fancy.  It  was  shown  to  Mr.  Lorenzo  Boyes,  the  Civil 
Commissioner  at  Colesberg,  proved  to  be  a  diamond,  and 

283 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

afterwards  bought  by  the  Governor  of  the  Cape,  Sir 
Philip  Wodehouse,  for  £500.  Two  years  later,  a  second 
stone  of  the  same  character  was  purchased  from  a  Griqua 
Hottentot  by  the  farmer  himself,  Van  Niekerk;  and 
this  stone,  sold  to  Messrs.  Lilienfeld,  of  Hopetown,  for 
£11,200,  and  christened  the  "  Star  of  South  Africa,"  was 
ultimately  purchased  by  the  (then)  Earl  of  Dudley  for 
£25,000.  These  "  finds  "  naturally  aroused  public  atten- 
tion, and,  as  the  white  pebbles  were  river  stones, 
adventurous  searchers  were  soon  at  work  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  confluence  of  the  Vaal,  the  Modder,  and 
the  Orange  Rivers.  In  1870  there  were  10,000  men 
seeking,  and  finding,  similar  stones  on  the  banks  of  the 
Vaal,  at  Klip  Drift  (now  Barkly  West).  From  these, 
the  "  wet  diggings,"  as  they  were  called,  the  searchers 
were  suddenly  called  away,  in  September  of  the  same 
year,  by  the  discovery  of  diamonds  at  Dutoitspan  *  and 
Bultfontein  farm,  some  20  miles  to  the  south-east  of  the 
river.  In  May  of  the  following  year  the  "  old "  De 
Beers  mine  was  found,  and,  a  little  later,  the  Kimberley 
mine,  known  at  first  as  the  "  Colesberg  Kopje."  All 
four  mines  lay  within  a  circle  of  3£  miles  in  diameter,  in 
a  barren  and  desolate  region,  where  wild  animals  had 
roamed  at  will.  Here,  nevertheless,  the  diggers  pro- 
ceeded to  establish  their  canvas  tents  and  corrugated 
iron  sheds,  and  within  nine  months  of  the  first  rush  to 
Dutoitspan,  the  "  Dry  Diggings  "  had  a  population  of 
50,000  white  and  coloured  persons.  These  pioneers  of 
the  future  town  of  Kimberley  were  at  first  exposed  to 
great  hardships.  They  had  no  regular  communication, 
even  by  road,  with  the  nearest  settled  districts  ;  water 
was  scarce  and  food  supplies  uncertain  ;  and  their  make- 
shift dwellings  of  wood  or  corrugated  iron  gave  them  a 
precarious  shelter  against  the  elements.  For  eight 

1  i.e.,  Du  Toit's  Pan  ;    a   "  pan  "  being  a  natural  basin  in 
.  which  water  collects  in  the  rainy  season. 

284 


KIMBERLEY   AND   RHODES 

months  out  of  the  twelve  the  miners  had  their  throats 
choked  and  their  eyes  blinded  with  South  African  dust 
at  its  worst,  and  in  the  remaining  four  they  were  drenched 
with  torrential  rains. 

It  was  long  before  the  diamond  fields  ceased  to  be  a 
mere  collection  of  mining  camps,  and  began  to  assume 
even  the  external  appearance  of  a  town.     At  first,  no 
one  guessed  the  real  character  of  the  diamondiferous 
deposits  upon  which  he  and  his  fellows  had  stumbled, 
and  all  alike  expected  that  a  few  years'  digging  at  most 
would  leave  the  earth  barren  of  its  treasure.     And  so  it 
was  not  thought  worth  while  for  anyone  to  build  sub- 
stantial houses  or  offices,  and  twenty  years  after  its 
foundation,    Kimberley   remained   "  a   straggling,   hap- 
hazard collection  of  small,  low  buildings,  constructed 
almost  entirely  of  corrugated  iron  or  of  wood,  laid  out 
with  hardly  any  attempt  at  regularity,  and  without  the 
slightest     trace     of     municipal    magnificence."  x    This 
natural  belief,  however,  proved  to  be  the  direct  opposite 
of  the  truth  ;  and  the  supply  of  diamonds  has  long  been 
known  to  be  practically  inexhaustible.     The  geological 
facts  by  which  the  permanency  of  the  deposits  of  the 
"  blue  ground,"  or  true  diamondiferous  earth,  is  estab- 
lished take  us  back  to  that  remote  and  Titanic  conflict 
between  the  elemental  forces  of  nature  which  gave  birth  to 
the  physical  South  Africa  of  to-day.    For  the  Kimberley 
mines  are  the  pipes  and  craters  of  long-extinct  volcanoes  ; 
the  "  blue  ground  "  is  volcanic  mud  forced  upwards  from 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  the  surface,  which  at  the  time 
was  covered  by  the  waters  of  a  great  freshwater  lake. 
The  main  supply  of  diamonds  lies,  therefore,  not  in  the 
craters  excavated  in  the  period  of  "  open  mining,"  but 
in  the  oval  columns  of  blue  ground  which,  penetrating  to 
unknown    depths,    are    now    reached    by    subterranean 

1  So  the  late  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  describes  it  (as  he  saw 
it  in  1891)  in  Men,  Mines,  and  Animals  in  South  Africa. 

285 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

workings.  Indeed,  so  far  from  there  being  any  likeli- 
hood of  the  supply  being  exhausted,  it  is  only  by 
rigorously  restricting  the  output  that  the  rarity,  and, 
therefore,  the  value,  of  the  diamond  can  be  maintained. 

It  was  just  here  that  Rhodes  performed,  perhaps,  the 
greatest  of  his  many  services  to  Kimberley,  and  by  so 
doing  for  the  first  time  gave  public  and  unmistakable 
evidence  of  his  exceptional  ability.  The  diamond 
industry  was  twice  threatened  with  overwhelming  dis- 
aster. As  the  excavations  of  the  open  workings  grew 
deeper  and  deeper,  the  flooding  of  the  mines  and 
the  continuous  and  increasingly  serious  downfalls  of  the 
soft  rock  by  which  they  were  encased,  exhausted  the 
funds  and  baffled  the  utmost  efforts  of  the  Mining  Board  ; 
and  in  1883,  having  spent  more  than  half  a  million  of 
money  in  removing  "  reef/'  it  abandoned  its  hopeless 
task.  From  the  almost  total  paralysis  which  then 
followed,  the  industry  was  saved  by  the  introduction  of 
shaft-sinking  and  subterranean  mining.  The  new  system 
was  first  adopted  by  the  De  Beers  Mining  Company, 
with  the  result  that  the  annual  output  from  this  mine 
rose  from  half  a  million  to  a  million  carats,  while  the 
cost  of  production  was  largely  diminished.  At  the  same 
time  it  was  discovered  that  the  round  surface  area  of  the 
open  mine  narrowed  to  a  column,  and  that  this  column 
of  blue  ground  ran  perpendicularly  downwards — con- 
sisted, in  fact,  of  the  contents  of  the  pipe  of  an  extinct 
volcano.  The  conditions  of  the  industry  were  now 
entirely  changed  ;  but  these  changed  conditions  brought 
with  them  a  new  danger  which  threatened  even  more 
complete  disaster. 

In  order  to  understand  the  nature  of  this  new  danger 
— the  cheapening  of  the  diamond  by  over-production 
under  stress  of  competition — we  must  first  glance  at 
another  aspect  of  the  industry.  Under  the  early  regula- 
tions of  the  diamond  fields  no  person  was  allowed  to  hold 

286 


SYSTEMS   OF   MINING 

more  than  one  "  claim."  In  the  case  of  the  Kimberley 
mine  a  claim  was  31  ft.  by  31  ft.,  an  area  no  larger  than 
the  floor  of  a  good-sized  room  ;  and  when  a  claim  proved 
rich  in  diamond-bearing  earth,  it  was  subdivided  among 
several  individual  miners,  so  that  at  one  time  this  mine 
was  divided  up  among  1,600  separate  owners.  In  1874, 
when  the  difficulties  of  working  the  claims  had  increased 
with  the  progress  of  excavation,  the  number  of  the  claims 
tenable  by  a  single  owner  was  fixed  at  ten  ;  and  soon 
afterwards  this  limit  was  removed.  When  the  huge 
pits  grew  still  deeper,  the  work  of  clearing  the  workings 
of  water  and  fallen  "  reef  "  became  more  onerous,  and 
the  business  of  raising  the  blue  ground  from  the  workings 
to  the  edge  of  the  mines  required  mechanical  appliances 
and  an  ample  supply  of  labour.  This  ever-increasing 
complexity  and  cost  in  mining  operations  brought  about 
the  elimination  of  the  individual  miner,  and  in  1880-1 
the  majority  of  such  ownerships  were  converted  into 
limited  liability  companies.  In  1883,  when,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  industry  was  threatened  with  paralysis,  it  was 
declared  by  the  Inspector  of  Mines  that  the  Kimberley 
Mine  "  could  never  be  worked  to  best  advantage  until  all 
the  payable  holdings  had  been  amalgamated."  Two 
years  later  the  four  mines  were  owned  by  forty-two 
companies  and  fifty-six  private  firms  ;  but  one,  the  De 
Beers  Mine,  had  passed  into  the  possession  of  seven 
companies  and  three  private  owners. 

It  was  at  this  period,  when,  on  the  one  hand,  under- 
ground mining  had  increased  the  output  and  lessened  the 
cost  of  production,  and,  on  the  other,  the  formation  of 
companies,  with  ample  capital  and  large  holdings,  had 
provided  the  means  of  working  the  new  system  to  best 
advantage,  that  the  industry  was  threatened  by  this 
new  danger  of  over-production.  How  real  the  danger 
was  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that,  while  in  1882  the 
value  of  the  carat  was  27s.  3d.,  in  1887  it  had  fallen  to 

287 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

18s.  5£d.  The  fall  was  due  mainly  to  the  keen  competi- 
tion between  the  Kimberley  and  De  Beers  Mines,  where, 
in  each  case,  one  company  had  become  dominant  by 
amalgamation  with  some  of  its  neighbours  and  by  buying 
out  others.  Moreover,  the  efforts  of  the  rival  combina- 
tions had  been  directed  in  each  case  by  an  ambitious 
and  determined  man  towards  the  attainment  of  an 
identical  aim — the  amalgamation  of  all  four  mines  and 
the  consequent  control  of  the  entire  diamond  production 
of  Kimberley. 

Rhodes  and  Barnato  (Barnett  Isaacs)  both  came  to 
the  diamond  fields  in  1873.  Seven  years  later  Barnato 
formed  the  Barnato  Diamond  Mining  Company,  and 
Rhodes  the  De  Beers  Mining  Company.  Both  men 
prospered,  and  both  saw  in  the  gradual  amalgamation 
of  the  ownerships  of  a  single  mine  a  first  and  long  step 
forward  in  the  direction  of  their  common  goal.  Barnato, 
by  becoming  a  large  shareholder  in  the  Kimberley  Central 
Company,  dominated  the  Kimberley  Mine  ;  while  the 
De  Beers  Company,  under  Rhodes*  methods,  had  obtained 
complete  control  of  the  De  Beers  Mine  by  May,  1887. 
In  the  same  year,  Rhodes  enlisted  the  interest  of  Lord 
Rothschild  and  Mr.  Alfred  Beit  in  his  plans  for  the 
amalgamation  of  the  four  mines,  and  with  their  assistance 
obtained  the  funds  necessary  to  enable  him  to  bid  suc- 
cessfully against  Barnato  for  the  outstanding  properties 
in  the  Kimberley  Mine.  Mr.  Beit,  moreover,  did  much 
more  than  supply  Rhodes  with  funds.  He  gave  him 
much  important  advice,  and  actively  co-operated  with 
him  in  the  final  stage  of  his  financial  duel  with  Barnato. 
There  followed  a  short  period  of  fierce  competitive 
buying  by  Rhodes  and  Beit  on  the  one  side,  and  Barnato 
on  the  other,  in  which  the  price  of  the  Kimberley  shares 
rose  to  an  abnormal  level.  Then,  finding  the  resources 
of  his  opponents  apparently  unlimited,  Barnato  at  last 
came  to  terms  with  Rhodes.  On  March  12th,  1888,  the 

288 


AMALGAMATION   OF   MINES 

De  Beers  Mining  Company  became  the  De  Beers  Con- 
solidated Mines,  Ltd.,  and  a  cheque  for  £5,338,650,  paid 
by  the  new  company,  bore  witness  to  the  severity  of  the 
financial  conflict.  In  June,  1889,  the  Company  obtained 
formal  possession  of  the  De  Beers  and  Kimberley  Mines, 
and  an  efficient  and  economic  system  of  mining  was  at 
once  introduced  by  Mr.  Gardner  Williams,  the  General 
Manager ; x  and  in  the  year  following  the  directors  were 
able  to  inform  their  shareholders  that  their  ultimate 
object  "  had  at  last  been  accomplished,  and  the  four 
diamond-producing  mines  of  De  Beers,  Kimberley, 
Dutoitspan,  and  Bultfontein  were  now  practically  under 
the  control  of  the  Company."  In  1891  the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  industry  was  completed  by  the  purchase  by 
De  Beers  of  a  fifth  mine,  the  Wesselton  (known  originally 
as  the  "  Premier  ")  ;  and  with  this  transaction  all  fear 
of  a  ruinous  competition  between  rival  producers  was 
removed. 

The  part  played  by  Rhodes  himself,  and  the  effect 
which  his  achievement  produced  upon  his  contem- 
poraries, are  well  described  by  Lord  Randolph  Churchill : 

It  was  this  great  work  accomplished  in  the  teeth  of  unheard-of 
difficulties,  and  almost  insurmountable  opposition,  representing 
the  conciliation  and  unification  of  almost  innumerable  jarring 
and  conflicting  interests  which  revealed  to  South  Africa  that  it 
possessed  a  public  man  of  the  first  order.  2 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  Rhodes  used  the  De 
Beers  dividends  to  acquire  for  Great  Britain  the  most 
fertile  areas  of  South  Central  Africa,  thereby  doing  a 
work  which,  in  point  of  magnitude  and  character,  might 
properly  have  been  made  the  business  of  the  nation,  and 
earning  for  himself  the  title  of  "  empire-builder." 

1  Mr.  Gardner  Williams  retired  in  1905  ;    and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Mr.  Alphaeus  Williams. 

2  Ibid. 

289 


THE   UNION   OF   SOUTH  AFRICA 

From  the  time  of  the  amalgamation  onwards,  Kimberley 
has  become  more  and  more  an  appanage  of  the  great 
mining  corporation  of  De  Beers.  While  the  policy  of 
restricting  the  output  to  the  current  requirements  of  the 
diamond  market  has  necessarily  kept  the  population 
almost  stationary  in  point  of  numbers,  x  the  appearance 
of  the  town  has  been  greatly  improved  in  recent  years. 
Many  of  the  most  striking  improvements,  and,  in 
particular,  the  creation  of  the  "  garden  suburb "  of 
Kenilworth  for  the  European  employe's  of  the  Company, 
were  carried  out  at  the  expense  and  under  the  super- 
vision of  Rhodes  himself ;  and  Kimberley,  almost  as 
much  as  Rhodesia,  is  pervaded  by  his  spirit  and  genius. 
Rhodes  took  a  special  interest  in  planting  trees ;  and 
during  the  months  that  Kimberley  was  besieged  by 
Cronje's  force,  when  the  mines  were,  of  course,  shut 
down,  he  caused  roads  to  be  macadamised  and  trees 
planted  with  the  double  purpose  of  embellishing  the 
town  and  providing  a  livelihood  for  the  unemployed. 
At  the  head  of  the  finest  of  these  new  roads,  the  "  Siege 
Avenue,"  which  is  more  than  a  mile  in  length,  stands 
the  most  beautiful  thing  that  Kimberley  possesses — the 
monument  to  the  citizen  soldiers  who  lost  their  lives  in 
defence  of  the  town.  Built  out  of  red  and  white  sand- 
stone from  Rhodesia,  its  Ionian  columns  and  massive 
base  wear  not  unworthily  the  dignity,  simplicity,  and 
unity  of  the  Greek  models  whose  form  it  borrows.  At 
its  foot,  pointing  to  the  low  hills,  once  held  by  the  enemy 
whom  it  helped  to  defy,  is  "  Long  Cecil,"  the  gun  made 
during  the  siege,  under  Rhodes'  instructions,  by  Labram, 
the  De  Beers'  chief  engineer.  On  the  base  of  the  monu- 
ment are  two  panels,  of  which  one  commemorates 

1  The  population  of  Kimberley  in  1911  was  29,519,  showing 
a  decrease  of  nearly  5,000  as  against  1904.  This  decrease,  how- 
ever, was  confined  to  the  coloured  element.  The  European 
population  showed  an  increase  of  '74  per  cent. 

290 


MINING   PROCESSES 

Labram, *  and  the  other  records  the  names  of  the  officers 
and  privates  of  the  irregular  forces  who  fell  during  the 
siege  ;  and  on  the  side  fronting  the  avenue  Mr.  Kipling's 
fine  lines  are  carved  upon  the  stone  : 

This  for  a  charge  to  our  children  in  sign  of  the  price  we  paid  ; 

The  price  that  we  paid  for  freedom  that  comes  unsoiled  to 

your  hand  ; 
Read,  revere,  and  uncover  ;    here  are  the  victors  laid  ; 

They  that  died  for  their  city,  being  Sons  of  the  Land. 

THE  PROCESSES  OF  THE  DIAMOND  MINES 
The  processes  by  which  the  diamonds  are  won  may 
be  grouped  into  four  main  operations  : 

1.  Extracting  the  "  Blue  Ground."    The  blue  ground  is 
raised  from  the  underground2    workings,   where  it  is 
hewn  with  pick  and  shovel  by  human  labour,  by  the 
familiar  appliances  of  truck,  skip,  and  shaft  haulage. 
It  has  been  calculated8  that  the  material  thus  brought 
to  the  surface  annually,  roughly,  4,000,000  tons  of  blue 
ground,  would  form  a  cube  which  would  more  than  hold 
St.    Paul's   Cathedral,   while   its   ultimate   residuum  of 
rough  diamonds,  albeit  some  £4,000,000  in  value,  could 
be  packed  into  a  "  good-sized  chest/1 

2.  Disintegration.    From  the  head  of  the  shaft,  the 
blue  ground  is  tipped  into  surface  boxes,  drawn  off  into 
trucks,  and  carried  by  endless  wire-rope  haulage  to  the 
"  floors,"  or  open  spaces,  of  a  total  area  of  17£  square 
miles,  where  it  lies,  exposed  to  the  disintegrating  action 
of  air,  sun,  and  rain,  for  fifteen  months. 

1  Labram  was  killed  by  a  Boer  shell  which  dropped  into  his 
room  as  he  was  dressing  for  dinner.  This  chance  shot  was  an 
instance  of  the  malignity  of  Fate,  and  compares  curiously  with 
Rhodes'  experience.  The  Sanatorium,  where  Rhodes  was  known 
to  have  taken  up  his  quarters,  was  a  constant  target  for  the 
Boer  gunners  ;  yet  Rhodes  came  through  the  siege  unwounded. 

*  Of  the  four  mines  working  in  1910,  however,  the  blue  ground 
was  being  removed  from  one  mine,  the  Wesselton,  by  surface 
mining. 

1  Stones  of  Fire  ;    The  Times,  November  5th,  1910. 

291 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

3.  Washing.     When     thus     disintegrated,     the     blue 
ground  is  carried,   again  by  mechanical  haulage,   and 
"  dumped  "  into  the  puddling  cylinder,  from  which  the 
finer  ground  passes  into  the  great  rotary  washing  pans. 
From  these  pans  a  deposit,  one-hundredth  part  of  the 
original  bulk  of  the  blue  ground,  is  drawn  off.     It  is  in 
this  sordid  mass,  a  mere  collection  of  pebbles,  bits  of 
iron,  and  miscellaneous  debris,  dropped  from  the  slot  of 
the  washing  pan  into  common  round  tin  pots,  that  the 
dull,  white  stones — most  precious  of  all  precious  stones 
— are  contained. 

4.  Separation.     The    earlier    methods    by    which    the 
diamonds  were  separated  from  the  deposit  drawn  from 
the  washing  machines  have  recently  been  superseded  ; 
and  the  methods  now  pursued  are  thus  described  by  a 
writer  in  The  Times : 1 

Every  known  mechanical  means  of  separation  was  tried  with- 
out success,  until  one  day  one  of  the  employes,  Mr.  Fred. 
Kirsten,  observed  that  diamonds  seemed  to  have  a  peculiar 
affinity  for  oily  matter.  Kirsten  asked  to  be  allowed  to  catch  the 
diamonds  by  placing  a  coat  of  lard  on  the  surface  of  a  shaking 
table  which  had  been  used  for  some  other  experiments.  Com- 
plete success  crowned  the  new  experiment.  The  diamonds  alone 
stuck  to  the  grease.  The  other  stones  flowed  away  in  the  water 
which  was  passed  over  the  table.  In  ingenious  adaptations  of 
this  principle,  the  sorting  of  the  diamonds  is  now  done  by 
machines,  whose  power  of  distinction  is  far  superior  to  the 
keenest  and  most  highly  trained  eye.  Experiments  have  also 
been  made  with  rubies,  sapphires,  and  emeralds  ;  and  it  has 
been  found  that  stiff  grease  will  catch  these  gems  with  the  same 
certainty  that  it  arrests  diamonds,  whilst  all  other  minerals  pass 
over  the  surface  and  fail  to  adhere.  What  is  the  cause  of  this 
amazing  discrimination  ?  The  answer  is  yet  to  seek.  Precious 
stones  alone  are  trapped  in  this  manner,  and  a  piece  of  glass, 
be  it  never  so  cunningly  shaped  so  as  to  imitate  a  diamond, 
will  drop  on  the  table  and  flow  away  in  the  tailings. 

The  rough  diamonds  thus  found  are  then  sorted, 
classified  by  reference  to  their  size,  colour,  and  purity, 
made  up  into  parcels,  and  finally  shipped  by  special 

1  Stones  of  Fire  ;   The  Times,   November  5th,  1910. 

292 


THE   CRIME   OF   I.D.B. 

registered  post  to  the  syndicate  of  diamond  merchants 
in  London,  to  whom  the  annual  production  of  the  De 
Beers  Mines  is  now  sold  in  advance.  The  delicate  pro- 
cesses of  cleaving,  cutting,  and  polishing,  by  which  these 
dull,  white  stones  are  converted  into  the  sparkling  gems 
that  the  jeweller  displays,  are  performed  almost  exclu- 
sively by  the  lapidaries  of  Amsterdam,  whose  skill  in 
these  matters  is  unrivalled.  Then,  with  the  full  graces 
of  their  liquid  splendour  revealed,  the  diamonds  are  at- 
length  ready  for  the  jeweller  ;  and  here  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  a  single  country — the  United  States — buys 
two-thirds  of  the  diamond  output  of  South  Africa. 

ILLICIT  DIAMOND  BUYING 

The  circumstance  that  the  rough  diamond  combines 
great  value  with  extreme  portability  has  evolved  in 
South  Africa  the  special  statutory  crime  known  as 
illicit  diamond  buying.  Under  the  enactments  dealing 
with  this  offence,  the  accused  is  deprived  of  the  benefit 
of  the  ordinary  legal  presumption  in  favour  of  his  inno- 
cence, and  is  liable  to  a  long  term  of  penal  servitude,  if 
he  is  unable  to  give  a  proper  account  of  any  uncut 
diamond  found  in  his  possession.  Every  dealer  in 
diamonds  is  required  to  take  out  a  licence,  and  his  books 
are  open  for  public  inspection.  All  dealings  in  individual 
diamonds,  or  parcels  of  diamonds,  from  discovery  to 
shipment  from  South  Africa,  must  be  duly  registered, 
and  the  stone,  or  stones,  properly  described. 

In  view  of  the  unusual  character  of  this  legislation,  the 
provisions  of  the  Cape  Trade  in  Diamonds  Consolidation 
Act  (No.  48,  of  1882,  of  the  Cape  Colony),  which  has 
been  applied,  with  the  necessary  modifications,  in  other 
provinces  of  the  Union  where  diamond  mining  is  carried 
on,  will  be  of  interest. 

Under  this  Act : 

(1)  It  is  declared  unlawful  for  any  person  to  have  in  his 
possession  any  rough  or  uncut  diamond,  unless  he  is  able  to 

293 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

produce  his  proper  permit  for  the  same,  or  to  account  satis- 
factorily for,  or  prove  his  right  to,  the  possession  of  the  same. 
Only  duly  licensed  dealers,  etc.,  are  permitted  to  buy,  etc.,  any 
rough  or  uncut  diamond.  The  penalty  for  contravention  of  this 
provision  is  a  fine  not  exceeding  £1,000,  or  imprisonment  up  to 
fifteen  years,  or  both. 

(2)  Persons  finding  diamonds  on  private  property  are  required 
to  make  a  declaration  of  the  fact  within  fourteen  days  to  the 
resident  magistrate  of  the  district. 

(3)  All   persons   authorised   to   deal,    etc.,    in   diamonds   are 
required  to  keep  a  register  of  their  transactions,  which  record 
is  to  include  (a)  date  of  purchases,  etc.  ;    (b)  name  of  consigner, 
cutter,  seller,  buyer,  owner,  etc.  ;    (c)  weight  of  each  parcel ;    (d) 
number  of  stones  of  10  carats  and  upwards  in  each  parcel ;    (e) 
price  paid  or  received  ;    (/)  weight  of  each  single  stone  valued 
by  buyer  at  over  £100.     A  copy  of  this  register  must  be  for- 
warded every  month  to  the  chief  of  police,  etc.,  and  produced 
when  required. 

Though  these  strict  regulations  and  heavy  penalties 
have  greatly  lessened,  they  have  not,  as  yet,  completely 
suppressed,  the  practice  of  illicit  diamond  buying  in 
South  Africa.  While,  therefore,  the  Diamond  Laws  pro- 
tect the  Company  in  a  large  measure  against  dishonesty 
on  the  part  of  the  Europeans  employed  in  the  mines, 
the  most  stringent  precautions  are  necessary  to  prevent 
theft  in  the  case  of  the  native  and  coloured  workpeople. 
In  Kimberley,  and  in  other  diamond  mines,  the  com- 
pounds, or  native  quarters,  are  not  merely  enclosed  by 
fences  and  buildings,  but  are  entirely  covered  with  a 
stout  wire  netting,  which  makes  egress,  otherwise  than 
through  the  gates,  practically  impossible.  The  native 
labourer  in  the  diamond  mines  is,  therefore,  literally  a 
prisoner  during  the  term  of  his  contract ;  and  before  he 
is  allowed  to  leave  the  premises,  he  is  stripped,  searched, 
and  subjected  to  medical  supervision.  As  all  alike  have 
to  submit  to  this  treatment,  none  but  the  convicted 
thieves  are  affected  by  it ;  and  the  fact  that  this  ordeal 
awaits  them,  as  well  as  all  other  conditions  of  service, 
are,  of  course,  perfectly  well  known  to  the  natives  before 
they  enter  upon  their  contracts.  That  the  restrictions 

294 


KIMBERLEY   COMPOUND 

and  necessary  precautions  essential  to  the  industry  are 
not  found  irksome,  may  be  inferred  by  the  circumstance 
that  the  same  "  boys  "  come  back  from  their  homes 
again  and  again  to  work  for  the  De  Beers  Company. 
Also,  it  must  be  remembered  that  native  labourers  on 
the  diamond  mines  receive  even  higher  wages  than  the 
high  wages  which  they  earn  on  the  gold  mines  and  in 
other  industries  in  South  Africa. 

CONDITION  OF  NATIVES  EMPLOYED  BY  DE  BEERS 
The  Report  of  the  Protector  of  Natives,  contained  in 
the  Union  Blue  Book  on  Native  Affairs  for  1910,  will 
afford  evidence  on  both  these  points : 

There  are  15  compounds  under  my  supervision,  occupied  by 
13,000  natives — 4  mine  compounds  and  11  surface,  all  De 
Beers.  The  only  mines  working  at  present  are  the  Kimberley. 
Du  Toit's  Pan,  Bultfontein,  and  Wesselton. 

The  compounds  throughout  are  all  built  with  a  view  to  good 
ventilation  and  space,  with  bunks,  and  the  whole  kept  scrupu- 
lously clean  and  well  fumigated.  Special  yard  boys  are 
employed  to  look  to  the  sweeping  and  cleaning  of  the  enclosure 
and  rooms,  and  the  sanitary  arrangements  are  as  perfect  as 
possible.  Very  fine  hospitals,  excellent  medical  attention,  and 
every  comfort  for  the  sick  are  provided.  All  the  natives  are 
registered,  and  pay  12s.  a  year  or  Is.  a  month  hospital  tax. 

Nothing  can  be  said  other  than  that  the  natives  employed  in 
these  mines  are  well  treated  in  every  way.  Not  a  single  com- 
plaint as  to  ill-treatment  has  been  made  to  me  for  at  least  two 
years.  .  .  . 

The  natives  are  contracted  for  four  and  six  months  at  a  wage 
of  15s.  a  week  for  general  work,  and  for  loading,  12s.  per  100 
loads  surface  and  20s.  mine,  so  that  they  can  earn  more  if  they 
wish  to  exert  themselves.  The  average  wages  earned  are  from 
3s.  to  3s.  6d.  per  diem.  Drilling  boys  earn  4s.  6d. 

Ministers  of  religion  of  every  denomination  visit  the  compounds 
regularly,  and  hold  services  ;  from  these  the  natives  purchase 
Bibles  and  other  requisites  for  their  mental  improvement.  .  .  . 

To  this  I  may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  to  add  the  rough 
notes  which  record  some  personal  impressions  of  the 
compound  of  the  Kimberley  Mine,  as  I  saw  it  one 
Sunday  in  1905 : 

The  compound  of  the  Kimberley  Mine  is  a  little  town  in  itself. 

295 

ao— (2139 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

It  houses  2,000  natives.  It  has  its  own  shop,  at  which  the 
natives  purchase  their  own  food  with  brass  money,  of  special 
coinage,  provided  by  the  Company  for  the  purpose.  The  shop 
appeared  to  contain  just  such  provisions  as  would  be  met  with 
in  the  "  general  "  shop  of  an  English  village.  Except  for  his 
"  mealie-meal  pap,"  the  luxurious  native,  who  earns  easily  from 
30s.  to  £2  a  week,  can  afford  and  elects  to  live  much  on  the  scale 
of  the  English  working  classes  at  home.  He  pays,  however,  the 
European  penalty  for  European  food.  In  other  words,  he  learns 
to  know  the  meaning  of  toothache,  from  which  in  his  natural 
condition  he  is  exempt.  Therefore,  the  dentist's  chair,  which  is 
in  evidence  in  the  dispensary.  The  hospital,  which  we  were 
shown  over  by  a  European  nurse  in  uniform,  contains  its 
operating  room,  as  well  as  all  the  other  equipment  which  a 
similar  establishment  would  possess  in  England.  Good  medical 
attendance,  and  the  best  of  food,  are  provided  for  the  natives 
when  they  are  ill.  In  reply  to  my  inquiry,  the  nurse  said  they 
made  good  patients.  In  her  own  words,  "  they  were  not  fidgety, 
and  they  did  what  they  were  told."  I  suggested  that  they  were, 
perhaps,  less  sensitive  to  pain  than  Europeans,  and  this,  she 
agreed,  was  undoubtedly  the  case.  We  were  shown  through  the 
wards — large,  clean,  and  airy  rooms,  and,  fortunately,  by  no 
means  full.  Pneumonia  claims  the  larger  number  of  patients, 
whilst  the  accident  ward  was  not  without  its  inmates.  Accidents, 
the  nurse  said,  were  generally  the  result  of  the  "  boys'  "  own 
carelessness,  or,  perhaps,  more  rightly,  of  their  want  of  intelli- 
gence in  avoiding  danger.  As  in  England,  on  Sundays,  within 
certain  hours,  the  patients  are  allowed  visitors.  I  noticed  more 
than  one  boy  squatting  in  silence  on  the  floor  between  two  beds. 
These  were  visitors,  the  nurse  explained,  and  they  frequently  sat 
thus  in  silence  throughout  the  whole  of  their  visit,  neither  they 
nor  the  patients  having  apparently  anything  to  talk  about. 
The  walled-in  compound  is  a  busy,  noisy  scene  on  Sundays, 
though  by  no  means  uproariously  so.  Groups  of  boys  were 
scattered  over  the  large  yard.  Some  were  merely  chattering  ; 
finding,  apparently,  no  lack  of  topics  outside  the  solemnity  of 
the  hospital.  Other  groups  were  busy  cooking  over  wood  fires, 
outside  their  sleeping-places.  One  boy  was  absorbed  in  pro- 
ducing sounds  on  a  Kafir  "  piano,"  a  curious  flat  instrument, 
consisting  of  a  succession  of  wooden  bars  with  spaces  between. 
By  striking  these  bars  with  a  stick,  he  did  succeed  in  producing 
sounds,  if  not  music.  Another  group  were  dancing,  that  is  to 
say,  they  stood  in  a  circle  chanting,  moving  their  feet  up  and 
down,  as  though  steadily  moving  the  treadmill,  whilst  one 
amongst  them  made  weird  sounds  on  a  concertina.  This 
monotonous  entertainment  is  kept  up,  we  were  told,  from 
Saturday  afternoon  to  Monday  morning  ;  as  one  tired  boy  falls 

296 


LABOUR   CONDITIONS 

out,  another  stepping  into  the  ring  to  take  his  place.  It  is 
curious  that  these  "  boys  " — grown  men,  it  must  be  remembered 
— should  possess  so  low  an  order  of  intelligence  as  to  find  a 
perennial  source  of  enjoyment  in  such  an  entertainment  as  this, 
and  are  yet  capable  of  becoming  really  useful  domestic  servants 
and  workmen. 

On  leaving  the  compound,  we  passed  a  queue  of  boys  waiting 
to  pay  their  money  into  the  bank ;  that  is  to  say ,  the  Company 
take  care  of  it  for  them  until  they  leave.  The  boys  sign  for  a 
short  term  of  service  only — six  months- — but  many  of  them  spend 
years  in  the  service  of  De  Beers,  and  amass,  what  must  be  for 
them,  very  considerable  worldly  wealth.  Just  inside  the  com- 
pound some  Kafir  chiefs  in  European  straw  hats,  and  with  note- 
books in  their  hand,  were  levying  tribute  in  the  most  business- 
like fashion  from  members  of  their  respective  tribes.  These 
taxes,  we  were  told,  were  always  readily  paid. l 

The  subjoined  table  shows  the  numbers  of  both  the 
European  and  coloured  employe's  of  De  Beers  in  the 
years  1908  and  1909,  and  the  rates  at  which  they  were 
respectively  paid  : 

NUMBER  OF  EMPLOYES  AT  FOUR  OPEN  MINES  IN  KIMBERLEY  DIVISION. 


Mine. 

White  : 
1908.        1909. 

Coloured  : 
1908.        1909. 

Wages  : 
Whites.      Coloured. 

Kimberley 
De  Beers 
Du  Toit's  Pan  . 
Bultfontein     .  . 

Totals      .  . 

200 
1,028 
74 
315 

217 
767 
64 
376 

1,034 
2,444 
657 
2,636 

2,618 
6,441 
516 
3,035 

£3 
to 
£5  10s. 
at  all. 

24/"u 
per  week 

&  lodging 
at  all. 

1,617 

1,424 

6,771  2 

12,610 

[From  the  Statistical  Register  of  the  Province  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
for  the  year  1909.     Capetown,  1910.] 

We  may  conclude  from  the  foregoing  accounts  that 
all  reasonable  measures  are  taken  by  the  De  Beers' 
authorities  to  ensure  the  comfort  of  the  natives  in  their 


1  Unpublished  MS. 

2  Owing  mainly  to  the  financial  crisis  in  the  United  States, 
the  diamond   industry  was  depressed  at  this  time,   and  large 
numbers  of  natives  were  set  free  for  employment  on  the  Gold 
Mines  (see  Part  III,  Chap.  I,  p.  173). 

297 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

employment.     Nor  has  the  Company  shown  itself  less 
solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  its  European  employes. 

KENILWORTH 

The  most  conspicuous  and  picturesque  result  of  its 
efforts  in  this  direction  is  that  presented  by  the  model 
village  of  Kenilworth,  which  was  planned  and  laid  out, 
under  the  supervision  of  Rhodes  himself,  in  1888.  It  is 
built  on  land  owned  by  the  Company,  and  is  approached 
from  Kimberley  by  a  wide  road,  2-J-  miles  long,  which 
during  the  siege  Rhodes  caused  to  be  planted  with  double 
rows  of  pepper  trees.  The  same  tree,  whose  foliage, 
apart  from  its  welcome  shade,  possesses  health-giving 
properties,  is  freely  used  to  line  the  main  avenue  of  the 
village  and  the  roads  which  converge  upon  it.  Each  of 
the  neat  houses  has  its  own  plot  of  garden,  and  the  two 
sides  of  the  avenue  are  screened  and  sheltered  by  the 
many  rows  of  pepper  trees  which  grow  between  them. 
Close  at  hand  are  the  fruit  gardens  and  vineyard  of  the 
Company,  planned  by  Rhodes  for  the  special  purpose  of 
providing  the  employe's,  both  European  and  coloured, 
with  a  cheap  and  abundant  supply  of  fruit  during  the 
hot  months  of  the  year.  The  long  walk — a  mile  and 
20  yards  in  length — in  the  vineyard,  and  the  Kenilworth 
Gardens  generally,  were  one  of  Rhodes'  special  interests  ; 
and  here,  as  in  the  Rhodes  Matopo  Park,  every  endeavour 
has  been  made  to  introduce  and  acclimatise  new  varieties 
of  fruit-bearing  trees  and  plants,  in  order  that  the  enter- 
prise, besides  fulfilling  its  immediate  purpose,  may  be  of 
utility  to  the  general  public  of  South  Africa. 

THE  DIAMOND  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  CAPE  PROVINCE 

The  quantity  and  value  of  the  annual  diamond  export 
of  the  Cape,  from  1895  to  1909,  is  exhibited  in  the 
table  shown  on  the  next  page. 

298 


KIMBERLEY    OUTPUT 


Diamonds  :  Weight,  value,  and  average  price  per  carat  of 
rough  and  uncut  diamonds  exported  from  the  Kimberley 
Division. 


Year. 

Weight  : 
Carats. 

Value. 

Average  Price 
Per  Carat. 

1895     .. 
1896 
1897     .. 
1898     .. 
1899     .. 
1900     .. 
1901 

3,355,863, 
3,283,439. 
3,220,367i 
3,232,057! 
2,736,928. 
l,882,730i 
2,541,597 

** 
jb 

7 
If 

. 

. 

i 

4,323,308 
4,195,651 
4,024,040 
4,124,170 
4,135,583 
3,434,822 
4,922,830 
5,386,970 
4,988,069$ 
5,336,982 
4,850,660 
6,834,369 
5,978,531 
3,191,582 
4,510,642 

£    *.  *• 

5     9A 
5    6£| 

4  llP 

5     7tf 
10     2-64 
16     5-85 
18  8-85 
2     0     7-85 
1   19     7-73 
2     1     6 
2     1     6 
2  11     0 
282 
1   18     9 
1   17     9 

1902 
1903 
1904     .. 
1905 
1906 

2,650,  110^ 
2,516,684C 
2,570,388j 
2,335,646^ 
2,679,572, 

1907 
1908 

2,481,494] 
1,645,400| 

1909     .. 

2,384,938J 

Note. — Diamonds  to  the  value  of  £643,047  were  imported 
into  Kimberley  Division  in  1909  from  Barkly  West  Division, 
Hay,  Herbert,  and  Bechuanaland.  The  actual  output  of  the 
mines  in  the  Kimberley  Division  alone,  for  1909,  was : 
Weight,  2,410,846  carats  ;  value,  £4,224,904  ;  average  price 
per  carat,  £1  15s. 

[From  the  Statistical  Register,  etc.] 

THE  DIAMOND  PRODUCTION  OF  THE 

FREE  STATE  PROVINCE 

Apart  from  the  Wet,  or  River,  Diggings,  the  earliest 
discovery  of  diamonds  in  South  Africa  was  that  made  at 
Jagersfontein,  in  the  Free  State,  in  August,  1870  ;  and, 
although  this  discovery  was  overshadowed  by  the  magni- 
tude of  the  Kimberley  deposits,  diamond  mining  has 
been  carried  on  in  this  province  of  the  Union  since  1878. 
After  the  war,  mining,  like  all  other  industries,  developed 
rapidly  under  the  Crown  Colony  Government,  and  this 

299 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

progress  has  been  maintained  up  to  the  present.  Taking 
the  latest  available  returns,  we  find  that  in  the  year 
1909-10  the  eight  diamond  producing  mines  in  the  Free 
State,  of  which  the  Jagersfontein  Mine  is  the  most 
important,  had  a  collective  output  of  787,6 13|-  carats 
in  weight,  and  £1,525,706  in  value.  In  the  same  year 
they  employed  1,015  Europeans  and  6,943  natives  and 
coloured  persons. 

THE  DIAMOND  PRODUCTION  OF  THE 

TRANSVAAL  PROVINCE 

The  Transvaal  diamond  output  is  practically  the  yield 
of  a  single  mine,  the  Premier,  which  was  discovered  by 
Sir  Thomas  Cullinan,  at  Elandsfontein  farm,  25  miles 
east  of  Pretoria,  in  November,  1902.  The  area  of  the 
pipe  is  stated  to  be  78  acres,  and  it  has  been  ascertained 
by  boreholes,  sunk  within  this  area,  that  diamondiferous 
ground  is  found  at  depths  varying  from  300  to  1,001  ft. 
Since  mining  operations  were  commenced  in  1903,  the 
directors  of  the  Premier  (Transvaal)  Diamond  Mining 
Company,  Ltd.,  have  spent  very  large  sums  of  money  in 
providing  the  machinery  and  plant  necessary  for  the 
successful  working  of  the  mine.  In  addition  to  this 
equipment,  which  includes  the  largest  washing  plant  of 
its  kind  in  the  world,  a  railway  connecting  the  mine  with 
the  Pretoria-Delagoa  Bay  line  at  Rayton  Junction  has 
been  constructed  ; x  a  water  supply,  fed  by  a  reservoir 
of  400  acres  in  area,  has  been  provided  ;  and  a  little 
town  of  residences  for  the  European  employes  and 
quarters  for  the  native  labourers  has  been  built.  In 
July,  1910,  this  latter  held  a  population  of  1,887 
Europeans  and  12,200  natives  ;  and  out  of  these  totals 
786  of  the  Europeans  and  11,632  of  the  natives  were  men 
actually  employed  in  the  mine.  From  a  financial  point 

1  This   brings   the   Premier   within    (about)    an   hour  and   a 
quarter's  run  of  Pretoria. 

300 


THE    PREMIER   MINE 


of  view,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  whole  of  this 
vast  expenditure — amounting  at  October  31st,  1910,  to 
£1,603,201  19s.  2d.— -has  been  met  out  of  the  annual 
earnings  of  the  mine,  and  that  the  capital  of  the  Com- 
pany, therefore,  remains  at  its  original  modest  figure  of 
£80,000. 

The  table  on  p.  302  shows  the  magnitude  and  value  of 
the  Premier  output  of  diamonds. 

And  to  this  may  be  added  the  record  of  the  Transvaal 
diamond  output,  as  presented  by  the  Chamber  of  Mines 
Report  for  1910  : 


Year. 

(Every  third 
only  to  '09.) 

Weight 
(Carats)  . 

Value. 

Estimated 
Value 
per  Carat. 

1903     ..      .. 
1906     .  . 

174,976 
1,069,391 

£ 

239,752 
1,563,141 

s. 
27-40 
29-23 

1909     .  . 
1910     ..      .. 

1,877,486 
2,090,068 

1,176,680 
1,317,715 

12-54 
12-61 

The  Premier  Mine  has  been  made  familiar  to  the 
British  world  by  the  great  Cullinan  diamond,  which  was 
found  on  January  25th,  1905,  and  so  named  after  Sir 
Thomas  Cullinan,  the  Chairman  of  the  Company.  This, 
the  largest  diamond  in  the  world,  weighed  in  the  rough 
3,025£  carats  ;  and  to  the  writer,  who  was  permitted  to 
see  and  handle  it  before  it  left  the  Transvaal,  it  appeared 
to  be  of  the  size  of  a  man's  clenched  hand,  while  in  colour 
and  general  appearance  it  resembled  a  mass  of  coarse, 
whitish  glass.  By  arrangement  with  the  Company,  it 
was  presented,  in  1907,  by  the  Transvaal  Government 
to  the  late  King,  Edward  VII ;  and,  after  it  had  been 
cut  and  polished  at  Amsterdam,  it  was  added  to  the 
Crown  jewels  of  Great  Britain.  The  clippings  of  the 

301 


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DIAMOND   VALUES 

great  stone  yielded  six  fine  diamonds,  the  largest  of 
which  weighed  90  carats  ;  and  these  lesser  diamonds 
were  presented  by  the  Union  Government  in  June, 
1910,  to  Queen  Mary,  in  commemoration  of  the  Union 
of  South  Africa,  which  had  come  into  being  on  the 
preceding  May  31st. 

THE  DANGER  OF  OVER-PRODUCTION 
It  is  obvious  that  the  Premier  Mine  constitutes  a 
formidable  rival  to  the  De  Beers  Company,  and  that  the 
danger  of  cheapening  the  diamond  by  over-production, 
which  in  the  case  of  the  Kimberley  mines  was  avoided 
by  the  amalgamation  of  the  competing  interests  brought 
about  by  Rhodes  in  1889,  now  threatens  the  diamond 
industry  of  South  Africa  as  a  whole.  It  will  be  observed, 
however,  from  the  tables  given  above,  that  the  average 
value  per  carat  of  the  De  Beers'  production  is  consider- 
ably in  advance  of  that  of  the  Premier.  In  1909,  to  take 
a  single  year,  the  value  of  the  Kimberley  output  per 
carat  was  returned  at  £1  17s.  9d.,  while  that  of  the 
Premier  is  given  as  12s.  6.29d.  It  is  claimed  by  the  De 
Beers  Company  that  this  difference  in  quality  has  enabled 
it  to  maintain  its  traditional  policy  of  regulating  its  out- 
put in  accordance  with  the  demands  of  the  market ;  and 
that  its  action,  while  exercising  a  beneficial  influence 
upon  the  industry  as  a  whole,  has  not  injuriously  affected 
the  financial  interests  of  its  shareholders.  The  De  Beers 
attitude  is  well  stated  in  the  article  in  The  Times  of 
November  5th,  1910,  to  which  I  have  referred  before. 

Diamonds  are  luxuries,  and  the  demand  for  them  depends 
very  much  upon  the  general  prosperity  of  trade,  in  America  in 
particular.  The  refusal  to  put  diamonds  on  the  market  when 
the  demand  is  not  there  is  in  the  interests  of  all  concerned  in  the 
diamond  trade.  It  has  a  steadying  influence  upon  the  industry, 
and  protects  the  Company's  customers  who  hold  stocks  of 
diamonds  from  any  sudden  and  discouraging  fall  in  the  value  of 
such  stocks.  There  appears  to  be  on  the  average  something  like 
5,000,000  sterling  per  annum  available  for  the  purchase  of  the 

303 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

higher  class  of  rough  diamonds,  and  it  is,  therefore,  simply  courting 
disaster  to  attempt  to  put  out  a  greater  quantity  of  the  stones 
than  can  be  absorbed  by  the  general  public.  De  Beers  do  not 
believe  that  the  production  of  a  greater  quantity  of  diamonds 
and  the  putting  of  them  on  the  market  would  result,  on  the 
whole,  in  any  larger  amount  of  money  being  obtained  from  the 
consumer.  .  .  . 

But  strong  as  is  the  financial  position  of  De  Beers,  it 
is  difficult  to  understand  how  so  formidable  and  prolific 
a  competitor  as  the  Premier  Mine  can  be  disregarded 
permanently.  It  would,  therefore,  seem  to  be  desirable, 
in  the  interests  of  both  companies  alike,  that  advantage 
should  be  taken  of  any  suitable  opportunity  of  arriving 
at  an  agreement  on  a  question  which  so  vitally  affects 
the  prosperity  of  the  industry  as  the  mutual  limitation 
of  output  by  competing  producers.1 

THE  GOLD  MINES 

The  importance  of  the  mining  industries  as  the  domi- 
nant factor  in  the  economic  system  of  the  Union  has  been 
exhibited  in  the  table  with  which  this  Chapter  com- 
menced ;  the  importance  of  the  South  African  gold 
industry  as  a  factor  in  the  economic  life  of  the  great 
commercial  nations,  may  be  gathered  from  the  circum- 
stance that  its  contribution  now  constitutes  more  than 
a  third  of  the  world's  total  annual  supply.  Speaking 
roughly,  nine-tenths  of  the  South  African  gold  produc- 
tion is  won  in  the  Transvaal,  and  of  the  Transvaal  out- 
put 95  per  cent,  comes  from  the  Witwatersrand  District 
of  the  Rand.  Before,  however,  we  examine  the  origin 
and  present  conditions  of  gold  mining  in  this  predomi- 
nant centre  of  the  industry,  it  will  be  convenient  to  give 
a  moment's  consideration  to  the  lesser  goldfields  of 
South  Africa. 

Apart  from  the  Transvaal,  then,  gold  is  found  and 

1  The  entire  South  African  diamond  output  for  the  year  1911 
is  reported  to  be  4,891,998  carats,  of  the  value  of  £8,746,724. 

304 


RHODESIAN    GOLD    OUTPUT 


worked  in  the  provinces  of  the  Cape  and  Natal,  in  the 
Bechuanaland  Protectorate,  in  Swaziland,  and  in 
Southern  Rhodesia.  The  three  proclaimed  goldfields  of 
the  Cape,  lying  respectively  in  the  divisions  of  the 
Knysna,  Prince  Albert,  and  Mafeking,  have  a  very  small 
output — how  small  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  their 
total  registered  production  up  to  August  31st,  1910, 
amounted  only  to  5,565  ozs.  17  dwt.  7  qrs.  In  Natal 
(i.e.,  in  Zululand)  the  production  of  gold  is  somewhat 
greater  ;  and  the  annual  output  in  this  province  for  1909 
was  returned  as  being  1,595  ozs.  in  weight  and  £6,697  in 
value.  The  annual  export  from  the  Bechuanaland  Pro- 
tectorate for  the  same  year  amounted  to  17,015  ozs.,  of 
the  value  of  £55,619 ;  and  in  Swaziland  the  five  pro- 
ducing mines  exported  gold  to  the  value  of  £44,499  in 
the  year  ended  June  30th,  1910.  There  remains  Southern 
Rhodesia,  where  alone  among  the  countries  here  men- 
tioned the  gold  production  has  attained  considerable 
proportions.  Here,  as  in  the  Transvaal,  gold  mining 
is  the  chief  industry,  and  its  progressive  advance  and 
present  importance  may  be  seen  in  the  subjoined  table  : 

RHODESIAN  (SOUTHERN)  GOLD  PRODUCTION  since  1900 
(at  three  year  periods  to  1909)  : 


Year. 

Bullion 
ozs. 

Estimated 
Value. 

ozs. 

i 

1900 

85,367 

308,249 

1903 

231,872 

827,729 

1906 

551,894 

1,985,099 

Fine  Gold. 

ozs. 

1909 

623,389 

2,623,708 

1910 

609,956 

2,568,198 

Note.— In  191 1  the  value  of  the  gold  produced  was  £2,674,896. 
305 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

GOLD  MINING  IN  THE  TRANSVAAL 
Apart  from  the  Rand,  gold  is  won  in  considerable 
quantities  from  the  Eastern  (or  outside)  mines  of  the 
Transvaal,  which  formed  the  earliest  seat  of  the  industry 
in  South  Africa. 1  As  early  as  1873  the  Landdrost  of 
Lydenburg  reported  to  the  Boer  Government  of  that 
day  that  gold  had  been  discovered  in  his  district ;  ten 
years  later  the  diggers  withdrew  from  the  Lydenburg 
fields  to  the  De  Kaap  valley,  50  miles  southward,  in  the 
district  of  Barterton.  Here,  in  1886,  owing  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  rich  Sheba  mine,  no  less  than  10,000  diggers 
had  assembled.  In  September  of  the  same  year,  the 
Rand  was  proclaimed  a  public  goldfield  ;  but  in  spite 
of  the  continuous  expansion  of  the  great  goldfield, 
mining  has  been  carried  on  in  the  Eastern  fields  since 
1884.  In  that  year  the  entire  Transvaal  output  of  gold 
amounted  to  £10,000  in  value  ;  while,  in  1910,  these 
"  Outside  Districts  "  of  the  Transvaal  alone  produced 
304,011  ozs.  of  fine  gold,  of  the  value  of  £1,291,354— an 
annual  gold  production  which  in  any  other  country  but 
the  Transvaal  would  attract  attention. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE 
WlTWATERSRAND  GOLDFIELDS 

In  the  manner  of  its  discovery,  the  Rand  contrasts 
sharply  with  the  Kimberley  diamond  mines.  It  was 
revealed  not  by  accident,  but  as  the  crowning  reward  of 
a  long-continued,  persistent,  and  arduous  search  for  gold, 
in  which  men's  lives  were  lost,  and  deeds  of  heroism  or  of 
shame  were  witnessed  only  by  the  silent  Bush,  or  the 
crags  and  torrents  of  the  lonely  mountain  heights.  It 
was  known  that  gold  was  to  be  found  in  the  Transvaal 
as  early  as  1854  ;  but  the  emigrant  farmers,  whom  the 
Sand  River  Convention  of  1852  had  made  masters  of  the 

1  That  is,  modern  South  Africa  :  Rhodesia  was,  of  course,  the 
seat  of  the  prehistoric,  or  Phoenician,  gold  mining. 

306 


DISCOVERY    OF   THE    RAND 

land,  closed  the  country  to  prospectors.  In  these  circum- 
stances, the  pioneers,  Hartley,  Baines,  and  the  rest, 
turned  their  footsteps  towards  the  scene  of  the  ancient 
gold  workings  beyond  the  Limpopo  ;  and  here,  in  1865, 
the  German  explorer,  Karl  Mauch,  discovered  the  Tati 
goldfield.  Two  years  later,  the  Boers  ceased  to  pro- 
hibit prospecting  ;  and  in  1872  the  Volksraad,  influenced 
by  the  more  progressive  spirit  which  led  to  the  choice 
of  Burgers  as  President,  formally  recognised  the  industry 
by  passing  the  first  gold  law.  Under  this  enactment 
"  the  right  to  mine  for  minerals  "  was  vested  in  the 
State,  but  provision  was  made  for  the  distribution  of  the 
prospective  mineral  wealth  of  the  country  as  between 
the  Government,  the  owner  of  private  land,  and  the  dis- 
coverer. At  the  same  time  the  Government  undertook 
to  administer  lands  declared  to  be  "  public  diggings," 
and  rewards  were  offered  to  prospectors  for  the  discovery 
of  payable  goldfields.  During  the  period  of  the  annexa- 
tion (1877-80)  an  Australian  mining  expert,  Armfield 
by  name,  was  employed  by  the  first  administrator,  Sir 
Theophilus  Shepstone,  to  prospect  for  gold ;  and  in  the 
course  of  examining  the  more  likely  districts,  Armfield 
was  at  one  time  at  work  close  to  the  Rand  basin.  The 
discovery  of  the  great  goldfield  was  delayed,  however, 
for  some  years  longer,  and  was  due  to  the  skill  and  per- 
severance of  two  brothers,  Mr.  W.  H.  and  Mr.  F.  P.  J. 
Struben,  who  came  to  the  neighbourhood  in  1884.  The 
former  secured  the  mineral  rights  on  the  Wilge  Spruit 
farm,  erected  a  small  battery,  and  found  that  the  ore 
from  a  reef  which  he  discovered,  and  named  appropri- 
ately enough  the  "  Confidence  Reef,"  yielded  a  good 
return  of  gold.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  F.  Struben,  when 
engaged  in  prospecting  at  the  western  end  of  the  Rand 
basin,  came  upon  the  actual  conglomerate,  or  banket, 
beds,  which  he  found  to  contain  deposits  of  gold.  In 
spite  of  the  discouraging  estimate  of  the  value  of  the 

307 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

deposits  which  was  formed  at  first  by  some  authorities, 
Mr.  Struben  persisted  in  having  test  crushings  of  the  ore 
carried  out  at  his  brother's  mill.  The  results  of  these 
crushings  were  so  satisfactory,  that,  when  they  had  been 
reported  to  the  Boer  Government,  on  September  8th, 
1886,  the  Witwatersrand  was  declared  a  public  goldfield. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  JOHANNESBURG 

This  event  produced  a  change,  the  like  of  which  for 
suddenness  and  world-wide  effect  has  been  equalled 
rarely,  if  ever,  in  the  history  of  Anglo-Saxon  colonisation. 
The  scene  of  the  Strubens'  discovery,  called  the  "  Ridge 
of  the  White  Waters  "  by  the  Boers  from  the  pure  streams 
which  flowed  down  its  northern  slope,  was  the  crown  of 
the  long  stretch  of  rolling  uplands,  which,  running  almost 
due  east  and  west  for  300  miles,  separates  the  valley  of 
the  Vaal  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Limpopo,  and  con- 
stitutes the  "High  Veld"  of  the  Transvaal.  It  was 
here,  in  this  wind-swept  desolate  region,  lying  nearly 
6,000  ft.  above  sea-level,  that  six  years  before  the 
Vierkleur,  raised  by  the  Triumvirate  on  Dingaan's 
Day,  December  16th,  1880,  had  signalled  the  outbreak 
of  the  first  Boer  war.  No  place  could  have  seemed  less 
likely  to  become  the  site  of  a  great  town  than  the  remote 
and  inaccessible  region  in  which  lay  the  newly  proclaimed 
public  diggings.  None  the  less,  by  the  end  of  the  same 
year,  Ferreira's  Camp,  with  its  fifty  miners,  was  raised 
to  the  rank  of  a  township,  graced  by  President  Kruger 
with  the  name  of  Johannesburg.  At  first,  everything 
that  the  miners  required,  building  materials,  mining  gear, 
tools,  food,  and  drink,  had  been  dragged  for  a  hundred 
miles  or  more  up  and  over  the  veld  by  processions  of  ox- 
wagons,  travelling  laboriously  at  an  average  speed  of 
1£  miles  an  hour.  For  there  were  no  railways  and  very 
few  roads  at  this  time  in  the  Transvaal  or  the  Free  State  ; 
even  in  the  Cape  Colony  railway  communication  had  been 

308 


JOHANNESBURG 

established  between  Kimberley  and  the  coast  for  little 
more  than  a  year,  while  in  Natal  the  railway  from  Durban, 
the  port,  extended  to  only  a  few  stations  northward  of 
Maritzburg.  It  was  at  this  early  stage  that  Kimberley 
capital  and  Kimberley  experience  were  of  supreme  assist- 
ance. At  the  end  of  the  first  year  Johannesburg  had  a 
population  of  3,000,  and  the  first  annual  return  of  the 
gold  mines  of  the  Rand,  which  showed  an  output  of 
19,080  ozs.,  of  the  value  of  £81,045,  had  been  published. 
Five  years  later,  the  pithead  gears,  batteries,  and  surface 
works  of  the  mines  extended  for  30  miles  along  the  ridge  ; 
and  Johannesburg  itself,  now  recognised  as  the  industrial 
centre  of  South  Africa,  had  been  brought  by  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Cape  railways  through  the  Free  State  within 
forty-eight  hours  of  Capetown  and  three  weeks  of  London. 
To  Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  who  saw  it  at  this  date 
and  described  it  as  resembling  an  "  English  manufacturing 
town  minus  its  noise,  smoke,  and  dirt/'  its  growth  seemed 
"  almost  magical."  In  1896,  ten  years  after  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  goldfield,  the  first  official  census  returned 
the  population  living  within  a  three-mile  radius  of  the 
Market  Square  as  102,078;  and  of  this  total  50,907 
were  Europeans. 

From  the  first,  better  and  more  permanent  materials 
were  used  for  the  construction  of  houses  and  buildings  at 
Johannesburg  than  those  with  which  the  founders  of 
Kimberley  had  been  content.  But  it  was  not  until  after 
the  war  that  Johannesburg  shook  off  the  sordid  remains 
of  the  mining  camp,  and  began  seriously  to  furnish  itself 
with  a  civic  equipment  worthy  of  its  large  population 
and  commercial  importance.  Before  peace  was  declared, 
Lord  Milner  had  established  a  nominated  town  council, 
and  this  body  was  succeeded  in  1903  by  an  elected 
council  which  contained  some  of  the  ablest  members  of 
a  singularly  able  industrial  community.  From  this  time 
onwards  rapid  progress  was  made  in  the  work  of 

309 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


providing  all  things  necessary  for  the  health  and  conveni- 
ence of  the  inhabitants  of  Johannesburg.  The  roads 
were  reconstructed  or  improved,  and  this,  together  with 
the  provision  of  a  permanent  and  abundant  water  supply, 
enabled  the  municipality  to  lessen  materially  the  evil  of 
dust  and  to  lay  down  a  system  of  water-borne  sewerage  ; 
whole  streets  of  sordid  and  insanitary  houses  were 
demolished,  and  the  native  and  coloured  inhabitants 
removed  to  locations  placed  well  beyond  the  municipal 
boundary ;  the  old  horse-drawn  tramways  were  super- 
seded by  an  electric  system ;  new  buildings,  public  and 
private,  were  planned  under  proper  architectural  super- 
vision, and  constructed  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the 
wealth  and  importance  of  the  commercial  capital  of 
South  Africa  ;  the  existing  parks  were  improved,  and 
new  parks  and  public  spaces  were  laid  out  and  suitably 
embellished.  In  the  meantime,  the  population  of  the 
town  has  grown  with  the  continued  expansion  of  the 
gold  industry ;  and  in  the  census  of  May  7th,  191 1,  the  total 
number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Johannesburg  is  returned 
as  237,220,  and  of  this  total  120,411  are  Europeans. 

THE  GOLD  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  WITWATERSRAND 
The  story  of  the  gradual  expansion  of  the  gold  industry 

is  told  in  the  subjoined  table,  which  is  taken  from  the 

Twenty-first  Annual  Report  of  the  Transvaal  Chamber 

of  Mines  for  the  year  1910 : 
WITWATERSRAND  GOLD  PRODUCTION  from  May,  1887, 

to  December,  1910 : 


Year. 

Tons  Milled. 

Fine  Gold. 

Value. 

1887.. 
1888.. 
1889.. 
1890.. 
1891.. 

— 

ozs. 
19,080 
171,789 
306,167 
408,569 
601,810 

£ 
81,045 
729,715 
1,300,514 
1,735,491 
2,556,328 

310 


TRANSVAAL  GOLD  PRODUCTION 


Year. 

Tons  Milled. 

Fine  Gold. 

Value. 

1892.. 



1,011,743 

4,297,610 

1893.. 

2,215,413 

1,221,171 

5,187,206 

1894.. 

2,830,885 

1,639,252 

6,963,100 

1895.. 

3,456,575 

1,845,875 

7,840,779 

1896.. 

4,011,697 

1,851,422 

7,864,341 

1897.. 

5,325,355 

2,491,593 

10,583,616 

1898.. 

7,331,446 

3,564,581 

15,141,376 

<2r,X;)"»°" 

6,639,355 

3,317,857 

14,093,363 

1899,  to     tiyuu.. 

— 

— 

r  .  .  1 

May  3ist 

1901.. 

412,006 

238,877 

1,014,687 

1902        .  . 

1902.. 

3,416,813 

1,690,096 

7,179,074 

Chinese 

1903.. 

6,105,016 

2,859,482 

12,142,307 

Labour,       1 

1904.. 

8,058,295 

3,653,794 

15,520,329 

June,i904, 

to    March 

1905.. 

11,160,422 

4,706,433 

19,991,658 

1910  ;  but 

1906.. 

13,571,554 

5,559,534 

23,615,400 

reduced  in 

^1907.. 

15,523,229 

6,220,227 

26,421,837 

1908. 
Period    of 

1908.. 

18,196,589 

6,782,538 

28,810,393 

full  opera- 

1909.. 

20,543,759 

7,039,136 

29,900,359 

tion,  1905- 
6-7 

1910.. 

21,432,541 

7,228,311 

30,703,912 

Totals  .  . 



64,249,337 

273,678,440 

Add 

Estimated  unre- 

) 

corded  output  for 

34,607 

147,000 

1887-9 
1  Undeclared  output 

) 
\ 

for  Oct.,  1899,  to 

584,841 

2,484,247 

May,  1900 

j 

Amount  won  in  1904, 
but  undeclared  .  . 

4,447 

18,890 

Grand  Totals  .  . 



65,053,232 

276,328,577 

And  to  this  may  be  added  the  following  statement,  which  shows 
how  the  total  gold  output  of  the  Transvaal  has  risen  (in  ten-year 
periods)  from  the  commencement  of  gold  mining  in  the  Eastern 
fields : 


Year. 

Ozs. 

Value. 

1884 
1894 
1904 
1910     .. 
Totals  for  period 
1884-1910   .. 

2,377 
1,805,000 
3,773,519 
7,532,322 

68,291,928 

i 

10,096 
7,667,152 
16,028,883 
31,995,266 

290,085,590! 

1  The  output  for  1911  is  reported  to  be  £31,976,121  in  value, 
showing  a  slight  decline. 

[From  the  same  Report.] 

311 

21— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  next  two  tables,  taken  together,  will  exhibit  the 
present  importance  of  the  Transvaal  gold  production  as 
a  factor  in  the  commercial  intercourse  of  nations,  and  a 
chief  source  of  the  supply  of  the  gold  which  is  needed 
by  the  world  both  for  currency  and  the  arts. 

Estimated  value  of  the  annual  gold  production  of  the 
world  since  1887,  at  £4.24773  per  fine  ounce.  The  figures 
to  1907  are  those  given  in  the  Report  of  the  Director  of  the 
United  States  Mint : 


Year. 

Value. 

I 

1887 

21,735,000 

1897 

48,509,000 

1907 

84,769,000 

1910 

94,135,635 

[From  the  same  Report.] 


Estimated  gold  output  of  the  world  during  1910 : 


Country. 

Value. 

Percentage  of 
Total. 

i 

Transvaal 

32,001,735 

34-0 

United  States 

19,737,838 

21-0 

Australasia 

13,519,153 

14-4 

Russia 

7,397,000 

7-9 

Mexico     .  . 

4,991,000 

5-3 

Rhodesia  .  . 

2,590,924 

2-7 

Canada    .  . 

2,142,000 

2-2 

West  Africa 

755,985 

•8 

Other  Countries 

11,000,000 

11-7 

Total 

94,135,635 

100-0 

[From  the  same  Report.] 
312 


THE  BANKET  ORE 

The  importance  of  the  gold  industry  to  South  Africa 
itself  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  export  of  raw  gold 
constituted  63  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  of  the  South 
African  produce  exported  in  the  year  1910.  Of  this 
gold  export,  as  we  have  seen,  nearly  90  per  cent,  is 
provided  by  the  Rand. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  DEPOSITS 

Before  examining  the  financial  results  obtained  by  the 
gold  mines  of  the  Rand,  in  respect  both  of  the  profits 
earned  for  the  shareholders  and  the  benefits  derived  from 
the  money  spent  in  wages  and  in  the  purchase  of  materials, 
it  is  necessary  to  realise  certain  special  features  of  the 
industry,  which  make  gold-mining  on  the  Rand  different 
from  gold-mining  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  These 
may  be  grouped  under  the  heads  of  :  (1)  The  nature  of 
the  gold  deposits ;  (2)  the  methods  of  recovery ;  and 
(3)  the  narrowness  of  the  margin  of  profit. 

Geologists  have  not  yet  determined  at  what  stage 
gold  was  deposited  in  the  layers  of  water-worn  quartz 
pebbles,  cemented  together  by  their  own  detritus,  and 
placed  between  layers  of  sandstone,  which  the  Dutch 
called  "  banket "  ore,  because  of  its  resemblance  to 
almond  toffee.  But  it  is  generally  agreed  that  the 
original  materials  of  these  conglomerate  beds  of  the 
Rand  Basin  were  gradually  gnawed  by  the  waves  of  an 
inland  sea  from  its  coasts  of  sandstone  hills  with  quartzite 
veins,  and  laid  smoothly  beneath  its  waters.  In  the 
course  of  time  incalculable,  the  fragments  of  quartz  and 
the  grains  of  sand,  now  piled  into  a  mass  4  or  5  miles,  or 
more,  in  depth,  were  once  again  welded  into  horizontal 
bands  of  rock.  Then — who  shall  say  "  when  "  or  "  how  " 
— a  great  convulsion  of  Nature  upheaved  the  floor  of 
this  primaeval  sea,  drove  the  granite  foundations  of  the 
continent  and  streams  of  molten  rock  through  it,  and, 

313 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

working  with  unequal  pressure,  tilted  the  northern  edges 
of  its  interstratified  bands  of  conglomerate  and  sand- 
stone rocks  to  the  surface.  Then  another  interval  of 
time,  again  incalculable,  passed,  and  the  face  of  the 
earth  assumed  the  appearance  that  it  bore  when  the  first 
human  footsteps  pressed  the  veld. 

Whether  the  gold  entered  the  conglomerate  beds  when 
they  and  the  sandstones  were  laid  down  upon  the  floor 
of  the  sea,  or  was  filtered  into  them  from  the  streams  of 
molten  matter  that  burst  upwards  and  through  them  at 
the  time  of  the  great  convulsion,  remains  uncertain  ;  but 
there  is  no  question  as  to  the  wide  extent  and  remarkable 
constancy  of  the  deposits  themselves.  Speaking  roughly, 
the  upturned  edges  of  the  Rand  Basin  can  be  traced 
round  an  oval  100  miles  long  and  30  miles  broad,  and, 
although  the  conglomerate  and  sandstone  bands  were 
broken  and  dislocated  by  the  intrusion  of  igneous  rocks, 
they  dip  southwards  from  the  northern  outcrop  with  a 
certain  regularity  of  curvature,  falling  at  an  average 
angle  of  30  degrees.  Assays  from  the  conglomerate  beds, 
when  followed  by  boreholes  along  the  dip  down  to  a 
depth  of  4,000  ft.,  have  shown  that  the  gold  deposits 
remain  constant  down  to  this  point.  Mining,  therefore, 
is  no  longer  confined  to  the  30  miles  of  outcrop,  but  the 
ore  is  being  extracted  at  increasing  depths  from  the  beds 
as  they  dip  southward.  And  as  on  the  Rand,  mainly 
owing  to  its  high  elevation,  the  temperature  rises  only 
1  degree  Fahr.  to  every  208  ft.  of  vertical  depth,  as 
against  a  normal  rise  of  1  degree  to  every  65  ft.,  it  follows 
that,  other  things  being  equal,  mining  can  be  carried  on 
here  at  a  much  greater  depth  than  elsewhere.  It  seems 
likely,  therefore,  that  the  extension  of  deep-level  mining 
will  be  restricted  not  by  the  exhaustion  of  the  gold 
deposits,  but  by  the  increasing  cost  of  the  equipment 
and  labour  required  to  raise  the  ore. 

The  conglomerate  beds  from  which  the  gold  of  the 

314 


GOLD    EXTRACTION 

Rand  is  won  are  distinguished,  therefore,  by  their  great 
extent  and  the  general  constancy  of  their  yield.  It  is 
these  qualities  that  make  the  Rand  the  greatest  producer 
among  the  goldfields  of  the  world.  But,  in  addition  to 
them,  the  conglomerates  have  other  qualities  that  must 
be  noticed  ;  since  they  impose  certain  conditions  and 
limitations  upon  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  industry. 
In  the  first  place,  the  character  of  the  ore  is  such  that, 
in  extracting  the  gold  deposits,  mechanical  methods  have 
to  be  supplemented  by  elaborate  chemical  processes  ; 
and,  in  the  second,  the  yield  per  ton  of  ore  thus  obtained 
is  very  small  as  compared  with  the  average  returns  shown 
by  gold  mines  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

METHODS  OF  RECOVERY 

It  has  been  calculated  that  the  conglomerate  ore  con- 
tains one  particle  of  gold  to  80,000  or  90,000  particles  of 
waste  material.  If,  therefore,  the  industry  is  to  be 
carried  on  at  a  profit,  every  possible  particle  of  gold  must 
be  recovered,  and  every  operation,  whether  of  mining  or 
of  metallurgy,  must  be  conducted  with  the  highest 
economy  of  labour  and  materials.  These  conditions  have 
caused  the  Rand  Mines  to  become,  in  the  character  and 
perfection  of  their  equipment,  not  merely  mines,  but 
manufactories  of  gold  ;  and,  as  such,  the  first  and  most 
necessary  condition  of  their  success  is  an  economic,  as 
well  as  adequate,  supply  of  manual  labour.  After  the 
ore  has  been  raised  to  the  surface  by  the  ordinary  methods 
of  underground  mining,  it  is  broken  up  by  rock  crushers, 
and  fed  into  the  batteries  of  stamps,  where  it  is  beaten 
fine,  mixed  with  water,  and  passed  out  over  copper  plates 
coated  with  quicksilver.  On  these  plates  all  particles  of 
free  gold  are  retained,  and  the  gold  thus  secured  is  from 
60  to  70  per  cent,  of  the  total  deposits.  It  then  remains 
to  recover  the  30  to  40  per  cent,  of  the  gold  deposits 

315 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

which  consist  of  atoms  so  minute,  that  they  are  still 
enclosed  in  the  fine  particles  of  ore  left  by  the  stamps. 
To  effect  this  purpose,  the  particles  of  ore  are  first  ground 
to  a  fine  powder  in  the  recently  introduced  tube  mills, 
and  then  treated  chemically.  The  ore,  now  a  fine  powder, 
is  saturated  with  cyanide  of  potassium  or  sodium,  with 
the  result  that  the  cyanogen,  having  a  special  affinity  for 
gold,  releases  the  potassium  or  sodium,  and  combines 
with  the  gold  in  the  form  of  cyanide  of  gold.  The  auri- 
ferous solution  thus  obtained  is  carried  to  the  precipi- 
tating boxes,  where  the  cyanogen,  as  it  has  an  even 
greater  affinity  for  zinc  than  for  gold,  releases  the  gold 
upon  coming  into  contact  with  zinc  scrap,  and  the  gold, 
when  precipitated,  falls  in  a  fine  powder  to  the  bottom 
of  the  boxes.  It  is  then  carried  to  the  retorting  and 
smelting  furnaces.  By  the  employment  of  these  com- 
bined mechanical  and  chemical  processes  the  mines  of 
the  Rand  are  able  to  recover  from  93  to  96  per  cent,  of 
the  gold  originally  deposited  by  Nature  in  the  hard 
pyritic  ore. 

THE  PAUCITY  OF  THE  YIELD  PER  TON 

But  these  perfected  methods  of  recovery  cannot,  of 
course,  alter  the  primary  fact  that  the  ore  of  the  con- 
glomerate beds  of  the  Witwatersrand  is  essentially  low 
grade.  On  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Joseph  Chamberlain's 
visit  to  Johannesburg,  in  January,  1903,  the  following 
figures  were  laid  before  him  by  the  Mining  Engineers  of 
the  Rand  to  illustrate  this  aspect  of  the  gold  industry. 

On  the  Rand,  39,364,671  tons  of  ore,  crushed  by 
sixty-three  companies  from  the  date  of  their  inception 
to  the  year  1903-4,  produced  gold  of  the  average  value 
of  42s.  lid.,  at  a  working  cost,  including  depreciation  of 
machinery  and  plant,  of  30s.  lid.,  and  a  net  profit  of 
12s.  per  ton. 

316 


YIELD    PER   TON 


In  other  gold-bearing  regions  the  value  of  the  yield 
per  ton  was  stated  to  be  as  follows  in  the  under-mentioned 
mines : 


In  New  Zealand  (Waihi  Gold  Mines) 
In  Australia — 

Queensland  (Mount  Morgan) 
(Charters  Towers) 
(Gympie) 
(Croydon) 
(Ravenswood) 
(Elberidge) 
West  Australia  (Great  Boulder) 
„  ,,         (Kalgoorlie)   . . 

(Lake  View)  .. 
Tasmania  (Tasmania  Gold  Mines) 

(New  Golden  Gate) 
In  India  (Mysore) 
,,        (Champion) 
,,        (Ooregum) 

(Nundydroog)  . . 
In  the  United  States — 
Cripple  Creek  (Portland) 
Nevada  (Comstock)     . . 
Colorado  (Camp  Bird) . . 
In  Venezuela  (El  Callao) 
„  Mexico        (El  Oro)     . . 
„  Canada       (Le  Roi)     . . 


Per  Ton. 
s.  d. 
55  4 

109  10 

103     7 

102     9 

68  11 

60  10 

75     3 

102     0 

140    0 

120     0 

82     0 

70    0 


108 

107 

83 

97 


200    6 


205 
127 
152 


55     9 
49    6 


It  will  be  observed  that  this  statement  of  the  Wit- 
watersrand  average  yield  per  ton  as  42s.  lid.  is  based 
upon  the  returns  obtained  during  a  period,  which  includes 
the  early  years  of  the  industry,  when  the  mines,  working 
on  the  outcrop  of  the  conglomerate  beds,  confined 
themselves  to  crushing  the  higher  grade  ore.  With  the 
introduction  of  deep-level  mining,  and  the  gradual 
improvement  of  the  plant  and  equipment  of  the  com- 
panies, however,  an  increasingly  large  percentage  of 
lower  grade  ore  has  been  brought  to  the  mill.  The 

1  The  figures  are  taken  from  Transvaal  Problems,  by  Sir  Lionel 
Phillips  (p.  79). 

317 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

natural  result  of  this  has  been  that  in  recent  years  the 
average  yield  per  ton  has  materially  decreased.  On  a 
basis  of  the  returns  obtained  in  the  year  1909,  for 
example,  it  was  28s.  lid.,  as  compared  with  an  average 
yield  per  ton  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand  of  55s.  to 
140s.  ;  in  India  of  83s.  5d.  to  108s.  ;  in  the  United 
States  of  127s.  9d.  to  200s.  ;  and  in  Canada  of  49s.  6d. 

The  improvement  in  equipment  and  methods  of 
recovery,  which  has  made  it  possible  to  extract  the  gold 
from  the  lower  grade  ores  at  a  profit,  has  been  accom- 
panied by  other  efforts  to  reduce  the  cost  of  production, 
and,  in  particular,  in  view  of  the  scarcity  of  native 
labour,  labour-saving  machinery  has  been  invented  and 
introduced.  In  this  connection  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Rand  gold  industry,  owing  to  the  magnitude  of 
its  operations,  has  been  able  to  secure  the  services  of  the 
most  skilful  mining  engineers  and  metallurgists  that  the 
world  has  produced.  The  combination  of  professional 
talent  with  the  practical  experience  and  administrative 
ability  of  the  leaders  of  the  industry  has  been  so  far 
successful,  that  while,  as  we  have  seen,  there  has  been 
an  appreciable  reduction  of  the  average  yield  of  the  ore 
now  brought  to  the  mill — a  reduction  due  in  part  to  a 
slight  deterioration  in  the  yield  of  the  conglomerate 
worked  by  the  deep-level  mines,  but  mainly  to  the  fact 
that  it  has  become  possible  to  obtain  a  profitable  recovery 
from  ores  of  lower  grade  which  were  originally  neglected 
— the  net  profit  per  ton  has  scarcely  fallen  at  all.  In 
fact,  as  the  subjoined  table  (on  the  next  page)  shows,  the 
gain  in  economy  of  production  for  a  time  exceeded  the 
loss  due  to  the  fall  in  the  grade  of  the  ore  milled. 

The  arrest  of  the  fall  in  working  costs  in  1910  is  attri- 
buted to  a  slight  increase  in  the  cost  of  labour,  caused  by 
the  continued  deficiency  of  native  African  labourers. 
The  circumstance  serves  to  emphasise  the  fact  that, 
with  ore  of  so  low  a  grade,  an  abundant  and  economic 

318 


EXTENT   OF   DEPOSITS 


supply  of  manual  labour  is  no  less  necessary  for  the 
Rand  gold  industry,  than  an  abundant  and  economic 
supply  of  coal  is  for  the  manufactures  of  Yorkshire, 
Lancashire,  and  the  Midlands. 


Year. 

Yield  in 
shillings 
per  ton. 

Working  Costs 
(do.). 

Working  Profit 
(do.). 

1905     . 
1906     . 
1907     . 
1908     . 
1909     . 
1910     . 
1911    (Jan.   to 
Sept.  only)  .  . 

35-82 
24-51 
33-04 
31-39 
28-917 
28-50 

27-917 

23-167 
22-167 
20-83 
18-00 
19-083 
17-583 

17-917 

12-653 
12-343 
13-11 
13-39 
11-974 
10-971 

9-66  * 

THE  LIFE  OF  THE  RAND 

Assuming  that  an  adequate  supply  of  manual  labour 
is  obtained,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  revolutionary 
changes  in  the  economic  life  of  the  world,  the  duration 
of  the  gold  industry  will  depend  upon  the  extent  of  the 
workable  conglomerate  beds.  Mr.  Hamilton  Smith,  as 
the  result  of  investigations  on  the  possibility  of  mining 
at  deep  levels  made  on  behalf  of  Messrs.  Rothschild  in 
1893,  estimated  the  value  of  the  Rand  deposits  to  be 
£325,000,000,  or  nearly  £100,000,000  greater  than  the 
total  yield  of  the  Californian  mines  between  the  years 
1849  and  1892  (£230,000,000).  And  a  later  estimate, 
that  of  Mr.  Theodore  Reunert,  put  forward  the  higher 
figure  of  £450,000,000.  In  1895  Mr.  Hamilton  Smith 
wrote  that  "  the  chances  were  far  greater  then,  than 
they  were  in  1892,  of  his  conjectures  of  that  date  being 

1  Published  in  an  article  in  The  Times  of  January  2nd,  1912. 
A  cable  published  in  February  in  the  same  journal  stated  that 
the  returns  for  the  Witwatersrand  alone  for  January,  1912, 
showed  a  total  of  2,067,161  tons  crushed,  a  total  profit  of 
£999,557,  an  average  yield  per  ton  of  27s.  6d.,  average  working 
costs  of  18s.  10d.,  and  an  average  profit  per  ton  of  8s.  lid. 

319 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

realised  "  ;  and  he  predicted  that  the  maximum  product 
of  the  Rand  would  be  reached  about  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  it  would  probably  exceed 
£12,500,000  per  annum. *  To-day,  gold  to  the  value  of 
the  whole  of  Mr.  Smith's  estimate  has  been  produced, 
and  the  mines  are  still  extracting  further  gold  at  a  rate 
of  production  which  is  two  and  a  half  times  as  great  as 
that  indicated  by  his  suggested  maximum.  These 
figures  are  interesting  in  themselves,  and  they  show 
that  at  all  events  this  early  estimate  of  the  extent  of  the 
gold-bearing  conglomerates  has  fallen  short  of  the  reality. 
Writing  ten  years  later  (1905),  Sir  Lionel  Phillips,  whose 
right  to  be  heard  on  such  matters  is  unquestioned,  has 
stated  the  broad  data  which  enable  us  to  form  some 
conception  of  the  extent  of  the  payable  beds.  "  The 
Main  Reef  Series  of  the  conglomerates/1  he  writes,8 
which  has  been  "  proved  to  persist  in  a  continuous  line, 
with  but  trifling  interruptions,"  for  61-J-  miles,  "  is  held 
under  various  forms  of  title,  but  principally  under  claim 
licences,  for  a  horizontal  distance  from  the  outcrop  that 
would  involve  sinking  to  a  vertical  depth  of  8,000  to 
10,000  ft.  before  its  contents  of  precious  metal  could  be 
secured."  Assuming  that  the  61  £  miles  will  be  worked 
to  an  average  depth  of  4,000  ft.  vertical — an  assumption 
which  is  generally  accepted  as  reasonable  by  most 
engineers — "  we  obtain  an  area  of  40,200  claims." 8 
On  June  30th,  1905,  when  gold  to  the  value  of  (roughly) 
£125,000,000  had  been  extracted  since  the  commence- 
ment of  mining  in  1887,  it  was  calculated  that  "  4*279 
per  cent,  of  this  area  had  been  exhausted."  Sir  Lionel, 
in  putting  forward  these  figures,  is  careful  to  point  out 
that  "it  is  impossible  to  give  any  definite  estimate, 

1  Article  in  The  Times  of  February  19th,  1895. 

2  Transvaal  Problems  (Murray,  1905),  p.  76. 

*  Under  the  Transvaal  Gold  Laws  the  extent  of  a  claim  (for 
quartz  mining)  was  150  (Dutch)  ft.  on  the  strike  x  400  on  the 
dip.  30  Dutch  feet  =  31  English  feet. 

320 


PROFITS    OF   THE    INDUSTRY 

either  as  to  the  length  of  life  or  the  ultimate  productive 
capacity  of  the  Witwatersrand."  Assuming,  however, 
the  same  basis  of  calculation  to  hold  good,  it  would 
follow  that,  as  by  the  end  of  1911  gold  to  the  value  of 
over  £300,000,000  had  been  extracted ;  approximately, 
12  per  cent,  of  what  may  be  called  the  "  ascertained  pay- 
able area  "  of  the  Rand  has  been  exhausted  up  to  the 
present  time.  And  Sir  Lionel  Phillips,  when  writing  at 
a  still  more  recent  date  (1910),  sums  up  the  question  of 
the  permanence  of  the  industry  in  the  following  passage  : 

To-day  no  one  has  reason  to  fear  either  the  loss  of  the  beds 
or  their  serious  impoverishment  within  the  limits  of  practical 
mining.  The  economic  question  of  the  future  resolves  itself  into 
one  of  ample  development  and  equipment  of  mines  for  their 
exploitation  at  great  depths.  An  adequate  supply  of  unskilled 
labour  is  another  essential  factor.  .  .  .  Given  an  active  and 
progressive  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  a  bright 
future  for  South  Africa  is  assured.  The  opinion  that  used  to 
be  fashionable,  especially  in  circles  not  too  friendly  to  the  gold 
mining  industry,  that  its  life  would  be  a  limited  one,  and  that 
in  a  few  years  there  would  only  be  holes  in  the  veldt  to  denote 
where  it  had  once  thrived,  is  no  longer  held  by  any  one 
acquainted  with  the  real  conditions.  The  60  miles  in  length 
of  the  sedimentary  deposits  now  being  worked  will  not  be 
exhausted  in  the  present  century,  and  at  present  our  knowledge 
is  confined  to  the  northern  shore  of  the  sea  of  bygone  ages. 
We  know  of  bends  to  the  south  at  Modderfontein  on  the  east  and 
at  Randfontein  on  the  west,  and  we  know  of  one  little  patch  of 
the  main  reef  series  at  Heidelberg,  35  miles  to  the  south,  where 
the  formation  dips  to  the  north,  and  where  we  therefore  know 
that  we  have  arrived  at  the  opposite  shore  ;  but,  for  all  we 
know,  there  may  yet  be  discovered  areas  of  the  sea  in  other 
parts  of  the  Transvaal,  especially  towards  Potchefstroom  and 
Klerksdorp,  which  may  add  to  the  life  and  production  of  the 
gold  mining  industry  of  the  country  ;  in  fact,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  gold  mining  here  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  permanent 
industry. l 

THE  PRESENT  POSITION  OF  THE 

TRANSVAAL  GOLD  INDUSTRY 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  consider  the  present 
operations  of  the  gold  industry.     Taking  for  our  basis 
1  Article  in  The  Times  of  November  5th,  1910. 

321 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  year  1910,  as  being  the  latest  year  in  respect  of 
which  complete  returns  are  available  at  the  time  of 
writing,  we  find  from  the  Report  of  the  Chamber  of 
Mines1  that  the  total  annual  output  of  gold  amounted 
to  £32,001,735  in  value,  and  that  of  this  amount 
£30,703,912  came  from  the  Witwatersrand. 

The  profits  earned  by  the  industry  are  disclosed  in  the 
returns  made  for  the  purposes  of  collecting  the  10  per 
cent.  Profits  Tax,  which  was  imposed  on  the  gold  mines 
by  the  Transvaal  Government  in  1902.  In  the  period 
July  1st,  1909,  to  May  30th,  1910— the  financial  year  was 
shortened  to  ten  months  by  the  establishment  of  the  Union 
on  May  31st,  1910 — ninety-four  companies,  of  which 
seventy-three  belonged  to  the  Witwatersrand  and  twenty- 
one  to  the  Outside  Districts,  were  assessed ;  and  of  this 
total,  seventy-seven  made  taxable  profits,  eight  made  tax- 
able profits  which,  however,  were  less  in  amount  than  the 
amortisation  allowed  ;  and  nine  were  worked  at  a  loss. 

On  the  seventy-seven  mines  making  taxable  profits — 

The  aggregate   Profits   made   (as  assessed  by  the 

Treasury)  were          £1 1,280,988 

The  Allowance  for  amortisation  was             . .          . .  1,862,879 

The  Taxable  Profit  was           9,418,109 

The  Tax  charged  (10  per  cent,  on  Taxable  Profit) was  941,925 

The  Tax  paid  during  the  period  was            . .          . .  892,831 

The  Percentage  of  the  Tax  assessed  to  the  aggregate 

profits  made  was      . .          . .          . .          . .          . .  8-35 

The  Percentage  of  the  Tax  assessed  to  the  dividends 

declared  was 9-59 

And  the  Tax  assessed  per  ton  of  ore  milled  was     . .  ll-27d. 

The  total  sum  paid  by  the  companies  in  dividends  for 
the  year  1910  was  £9,130,958;  and  of  this  total,  the 
Rand  furnished  £8,887,185,  while  £243,773  came  from 
the  Outside  Districts.  The  total  amount  of  the  dividends 
declared  during  the  period  1887-1910  is  £75,105,429,  of 
which  £72,436,579  was  drawn  from  the  Rand,  and 
£2,668,850  from  the  outside  districts.  The  average 

1  Published  in  1911. 

322 


LABOUR   AND   WAGES 


number  of  persons  at  work  on  the  gold  mines  during  the 
year,  including  coloured  convicts,  was  :  Whites,  24,520  ; 
coloured,  178,313  ;  Chinese,  191.  Of  these  totals,  23,421 
whites,  167,415  coloured  persons,  and  191  Chinese  were 
employed  in  the  Rand,  and  1,099  whites  and  10,898 
coloured  persons  in  the  outside  districts.  The  amount 
earned  in  salaries  and  wages  was  £13,402,232 ;  and  of 
this  total,  £1,203,736  was  paid  in  salaries,  £6,858,035  in 
wages  to  the  white  skilled  workmen,  £5,333,204  to  the 
coloured  (mainly  native)  unskilled  workmen,  and  £7,257 
to  the  small  number  of  Chinese  coolies  who  were  not 
repatriated  until  March  in  this  year  (1910). 

The  sum  of  £11,886,931  was  paid  by  the  gold  mines 
for  the  stores  purchased  for  consumption  during  the  year 
ended  December  31st,  1910.  These  stores  included, 
among  other  articles,  foods  for  the  Chinese  coolies,  coal, 
coke,  electrical  machinery,  explosives,  hand  tools,  iron, 
lead,  lime,  lubricants,  machinery  and  machine  tools, 
foods  for  the  native  labourers,  paint,  pipes,  ropes  (wire), 
steel,  timber,  Tube  Mill  requisites,  etc.,  etc. 

THE  LABOUR  EMPLOYED 

The  average  numbers  of  the  respective  classes  of  labour 
employed  in  the  Witwatersrand  and  Transvaal  gold 
mines  in  each  year  from  1904  to  1910  are  shown  in  the 
subjoined  table : 


Year. 

Wr 
Whites. 

[•WATERSRAls 

Coloured. 

fD. 

Chinese. 

TRANS 
Whites. 

VAAL  (as  a 
Coloured. 

whole). 
Chinese. 

1904      .  . 
1905     .  . 
1906     .  . 
1907     .  . 
1908     .  . 
1909     .  . 
1910     .. 

13,027 
16,227 
17,210 
16,755 
17,593 
20,625 
23,651 

68,438 
91,084 
84,897 
105,915 
139,893 
161,795 
183,613 

9,668  l 
39,952 
51,427 
49,302 
21,027 
6,516 
305 

13,712 
17,044 
17,980 
17,468 
18,434 
21,589 
24,757 

77,425 
100,037 
93,628 
115,273 
150,317 
172,382 
195,246  » 

as 
before. 

[From  the  Chamber  of  Mines  Report,  1911.] 
1  Seven  months. 
1  For  1911  Native  labour  returns,  see  Part  IV,  Chap.  I,  p.  245. 

323 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  European  workmen  of  the  Rand  gold  industry,  as 
a  whole,  constitute  one  of  the  most  costly  bodies  of 
skilled  labour  in  the  world.  The  average  wages  per 
shift,  usually  of  ten  hours,  of  the  principal  occupations, 
as  given  in  the  Circular  published  by  the  Emigrants' 
Information  Office  on  October  1st,  1911,  are  as  under : 


Mine  : 

s. 

d. 

$. 

d. 

Shift  bosses         .  . 

24 

7 

Miners  —  Handmen  — 

Timbermen 

20 

8 

Stoping          

18 

9 

Pipemen      

18 

11 

Developing 

19 

1 

Platelayers  (under- 

Engine-drivers — 

ground)    

18 

4 

Underground 

20 

6 

Banksmen  and  Onset- 

Skipmen       

15 

9 

ters  .  .      .... 

14 

8 

Mill  : 

Gangers  and  Tram- 

Firemen        

22 

10 

mers  

13 

9 

Amalgamators 

18 

4 

Pumpmen    

18 

11 

Millwrights 

20 

4 

Miners  :  Machinemen  — 

Cyanide  Works  : 

Stoping    

21 

3 

Firemen       

23 

3 

Developing 

24 

2 

Cyaniders    

16 

8 

Smelters      

18 

2 

Sundry  Surfacemen  : 

Firemen       

15 

2 

Unskilled  labourers    .  . 

5 

9 

The  actual  value  of  these  wages  (i.e.,  their  power  to 
purchase  the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life)  depends 
very  largely  upon  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the 
individual  wage-earner.  As,  however,  the  cost  of  living 
to  the  European  in  South  Africa  is  a  subject  which  is 
elsewhere  discussed, l  it  will  be  sufficient  to  add  here 
that  it  is  generally  recognised  that  a  married  artisan, 
with  a  family,  cannot  live  in  comfort  on  the  Rand  unless 
he  earns  an  income  of  at  least  £300  a  year.  The  fact  is 
one  of  the  highest  significance,  since  it  demonstrates  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  substituting  unskilled  European 
labour  for  unskilled  native  labour  in  the  gold  industry. 
The  white  man,  whether  a  skilled  or  unskilled  labourer, 
if  he  is  going  to  marry  and  settle  down  in  South  Africa 

1  See  Part  V,  Chap.  V,  p.  493. 

324 


SOURCES  OF  NATIVE  LABOUR 


— in  other  words,  if  he  is  to  become  an  effective  citizen 
— must  be  paid  at  a  rate  which  will  enable  him  to  main- 
tain himself  and  his  family  according  to  the  standard  of 
the  white  inhabitants.  A  glance  at  the  relative  numbers 
of  the  white  and  coloured  employe's,  and  the  amounts 
respectively  paid  in  wages  to  them,  as  set  out  above,  will 
be  sufficient  to  show  that,  under  the  existing  economic 
and  political  conditions  of  the  Union,  the  employment  of 
white  unskilled  labour  is  absolutely  prohibited  by  its 
costliness.  It  is  generally  calculated  that  a  native 
labourer  costs  the  companies  £50  a  year — £30  in  wages, 
and  £20  in  food,  quarters,  and  other  expenses.  If, 
therefore,  the  (in  round  numbers)  200,000  native  labourers 
now  employed  at  £50  a  year  per  head  were  replaced  by 
European  labourers  at  £300  a  year,  the  annual  bill  for 
unskilled  labour  would  suddenly  rise  from  £10,000,000 
to  £60,000,000 — a  sum  approximately  twice  as  great  as 
the  value  of  the  output,  and  six  times  as  great  as  the  net 
profits  of  the  industry. 

NATIVE  LABOUR 

The  Witwatersrand  Native  Labour  Association  is  the 
chief  recruiting  agency  of  the  Transvaal  mining  industry. 
The  two  following  tables,  taken  from  its  report  for  the 
year  1910,  will  exhibit  the  magnitude  of  its  operations, 
and  the  number  and  variety  of  the  sources  from  which 
the  gold  mines  draw  their  supply  of  native  African  labour. 

Table  showing  the  number  of  natives  employed  and 
distributed  in  1909  and  1910 : 


Year. 

Allotted  by 
W.N.L.A. 

Recruited  by 
Mines. 

Average  No. 
of  Natives 
employed 
during  the  yr. 

1909 
1910     .. 

106,201 
123,591 

52,071 
80,029 

159,084 
177,795 

325 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Table  showing  the  territorial  analysis  of  the  natives 
employed  by  members  of  the  W.N.L.A.  at  December  31st, 
1910: 

1.    British: 

Per 

Cent. 
Transvaal        ..  .    13,404 


Swaziland 
Bechuanaland 
Cape     . . 
Basutoland 
Free  State 
Natal    .. 
Rhodesia 
British  Nyasaland 


2,586 

697 

46,599 

5,674 

715 

11,952 

627 

3,370 


North-East  Rhodesia  .  60 

85,684  47-85 

2.    Foreign  : 

(a)  Portuguese  : 

Province  of  Mozambique — 
Lorenzo  Marques,  Gaza, 

and  Inhambane  Districts  :  Per 

74,395  =41-54      Cent. 

Quilimane,Tete,&  Barue  5,924 
Mozambique  District  .  9,435 
Portuguese  Nyasa  . .  3,067 
Beira  and  Chinde  248 


93,069  51-96 

(b}  German  S.W.Africa    301  =      -17 

301  -17 

3.    Other  Sources      . .          . .           29  =      -02 

29  -02 

Total                      .   179,083  100-00 


Under  the  republic,  the  natives  employed  on  the  gold 
mines  were  subjected  to  petty  exactions  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  officials,  the  arrangements  for  their 
accommodation  were  wholly  inadequate,  and  the  system 
of  recruitment  by  private  and  unsupervised  labour  agents, 

326 


IMPROVED   CONDITIONS 

or ."  touts,"  was  productive  of  much  evil  alike  to  the 
employer  and  the  employed.  Upon  the  establishment 
of  Crown  Colony  government  in  the  new  colonies  after 
the  war,  Lord  Milner  impressed  upon  the  leaders  of  the 
gold  industry  the  urgent  necessity  of  improving  the  con- 
dition of  native  labour  on  the  mines,  both  on  humani- 
tarian grounds  and  as  being  the  first  and  most  obvious 
step  in  the  direction  of  increasing  the  supply ;  and  the 
supervision  of  the  labourers  and  the  inspection  of  the 
premises  in  which  they  lived  were  included  in  the  regular 
administrative  duties  of  the  Transvaal  Native  Affairs 
Department.  In  the  pursuance  of  this  policy,  the  Wit- 
watersrand  Native  Labour  Association  was  formed  to 
serve  as  a  responsible  agency  for  recruiting  native 
labourers,  and  the  sanitary  and  living  accommodation 
provided  for  them  in  the  mines,  and  the  general  condi- 
tions of  their  employment,  were  rapidly  improved.  The 
process  of  reform,  thus  inaugurated,  has  been  continued 
in  subsequent  years  ;  and  to-day  no  reasonable  measure 
is  omitted  which  is  calculated  to  secure  not  merely  the 
just  treatment,  but  the  comfort  and  convenience,  of  the 
native  labourer  from  the  moment  when  he  is  recruited, 
or  leaves  his  kraal  independently,  to  the  time — some 
six  or  twelve  months  later,  as  the  case  may  be — that  he 
again  reaches  the  country,  or  district,  in  which  his  home 
is  to  be  found.  The  one  serious  evil  which  remains  to 
be  removed  is  the  high  rate  of  mortality.  The  chief 
sufferers  are  natives  who  come  from  the  warm,  sub- 
tropical districts  of  the  East  Coast,  and  from  Central 
Africa.  Strenuous  efforts,  however,  have  been  made  to 
protect  the  native  labourers — or,  rather,  to  induce  them 
to  protect  themselves — from  the  injurious  effects  of 
exposure  to  the  comparative  cold  of  the  high  veld  in 
winter,  after  they  have  emerged  heated  from  their  work 
underground;  and,  although  the  rate  of  mortality  is 
still  too  high,  it  has  been,  and  is  still  being,  steadily 

327 

22— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


reduced.  The  subjoined  table  will  show  the  progress 
which  has  been  made  since  1902,  when  the  Native  Affairs 
Department  first  began  to  combat  the  evil. 

Table  showing  the  highest  death  rate  per  1,000  per 
annum,  in  any  month  in  each  year,  from  1903,  among 
natives  employed  on  mines  and  industrial  works  in  the 
proclaimed  labour  districts  of  the  Transvaal : 


Y 

5J 

IT. 

Month. 

Rate  per  1,000. 

1903 
1904 

July 
November 

112-5 
56-5 

1905 

63-1 

1906 
1907 
1908 

January 
May 
December 

47-1 
38-3 
38-0 

1909 

March 

41-1 

1910 

December 

36-23 

Based  upon  the  Union  Native  Affairs  Report  for  1910. 

If  the  mining  companies  desired  to  ill-treat  the  natives 
in  their  employment,  they  would  find  it  difficult  to  do 
so  in  view  of  the  system  of  Government  inspection. 
The  inspectors,  who  frequently  visit  the  compounds, 
make  it  their  business  to  ensure  that  every  native  who 
has  a  ground  of  complaint,  real  or  imaginary,  shall  have 
an  opportunity  of  laying  it  before  them.  The  hours  and 
conditions  of  employment  under  and  above  ground  are 
carefully  supervised ;  the  dormitories  are  inspected  to 
see  that  the  air-space  per  head,  required  by  the  medical 
officers'  regulations,  is  provided  ;  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  the  food  is  examined  ;  and  the  sanitary  arrangements 
and  hospital  accommodation  are  the  subject  of  special 
vigilance.  So  far,  however,  from  desiring  to  ill-treat  the 
native  labourers,  the  mining  authorities  realise  that,  in 
view  of  the  scarcity  of  the  supply,  it  is  greatly  to  their 

328 


TAXATION   OF   MINES 

advantage  that  every  labourer  should  be  made  as  com- 
fortable as  possible,  in  order  that  he  may  return  himself 
for  further  periods  of  service — as  is  done  especially  in  the 
case  of  the  Mozambique  natives — and  serve  to  attract  his 
neighbours  to  the  mines  by  giving  favourable  accounts 
of  his  own  experiences. 

The  life  of  the  natives  in  the  compounds  of  the  gold 
mines  is  very  much  the  same  as  that  which  has  been 
sketched  in  the  case  of  the  diamond  mines  at  Kimberley. 
In  one  respect,  however,  the  conditions  of  employment 
are  more  favourable.  The  Rand  native  labourer  is  not 
rigorously  confined  within  a  compound  covered  with  a 
network  of  wires  ;  he  has  the  run  of  the  mine  premises, 
and  leave  of  absence  to  visit  friends,  and  for  other  reason- 
able purposes,  is  readily  granted.  His  wages  are  not  so 
high,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  provided  with  all  his 
food  and  with  medical  attendance,  in  addition  to  his 
quarters.  Here,  too,  as  at  Kimberley,  arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  banking  of  his  wages,  and  for  the 
easy  transmission  of  sums  of  money  to  relatives  or 
creditors  ;  only  on  the  Transvaal  mines  this  is  done 
through  the  agency  of  the  Native  Affairs  Department, 
and  not  through  the  company.  Moreover,  the  mining 
companies  have  undertaken  recently — and  voluntarily — to 
pay  suitable  compensation  to  natives  who  may  be  injured 
by  accident,  or  to  their  dependants  in  the  case  of  death. 

TAXATION  OF  GOLD,  DIAMOND,  AND  OTHER  MINES 
Prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  the  gold  mines 
in  the  Transvaal  paid  a  tax  of  10  per  cent,  on  the  net 
profits  earned,  which  was  imposed  by  the  Crown  Colony 
Administration  in  1892,  as  being  the  equivalent  of  the 
charges  indirectly  levied  by  the  Republican  Government l 

1  Apart  from  a  5  per  cent,  direct  tax  (which,  however,  had  not 
been  levied),  the  gold  industry  was  indirectly  taxed  through  the 
Dynamite  Monopoly  and  by  excessive  railway  rates. 

329 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

upon  the  gold  industry  before  the  war.  The  diamond 
mines  were  subjected  to  a  tax  of  60  per  cent,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  Diamond  and  Precious  Stones  Ordinance 
of  1903.  This  latter  taxation  was  based  upon  the  excep- 
tional results  obtained  by  the  one  great  diamond  mine, 
the  Premier,  in  the  first  year  that  it  was  in  operation. l 
In  the  Cape  Colony  there  was  no  special  tax  on  gold  or 
diamond  mines,  but  the  De  Beers  Company  was  made 
to  contribute  to  the  Revenue  through  the  income  tax, 
which  was  so  graduated  as  to  fall  most  heavily  upon  the 
largest  incomes. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  the  income  tax 
in  the  Cape  Province  was  abolished,  and  an  Act  was 
passed  to  consolidate  the  various  mining  revenue  laws 
of  the  four  provinces.  This  latter — the  Mining  Taxation 
Act,  1910 — introduces  (1)  a  uniform  profits'  tax  of  10  per 
cent,  in  respect  of  precious  metals  and  precious  stones  ; 
and  (2)  a  graduated  tax  in  respect  of  other  minerals 
ranging  from  2£  per  cent,  upwards.  So  far  as  gold 
mining  is  concerned,  the  measure  adopts  the  general 
principles  of  the  Transvaal  10  per  Cent.  Profits  Tax. 

The  following  passage,  which  appears  in  the  Report  of 
Transvaal  Chamber  of  Mines  for  the  year  1910,  gives 
some  further  particulars  of  the  Act : 

"  ...  the  new  law  re-enacts  the  [Transvaal  10  per  cent. 
Profits  Tax]  but  includes  Diamond  Mines  in  addition.  Under 

1  Under  the  Republican  law  of  1898,  the  owners  of  diamond 
mines  were  entitled  to  retain  one-eighth  only  of  the  diamondif  erous 
area,  the  rest  passing  to  the  State.  It  was,  therefore,  considered 
to  be  a  considerable  concession  to  allow  the  private  owner  to 
retain  four-tenths  of  the  areas,  leaving  only  six-tenths  for  the 
State.  The  proprietors  of  the  Premier  might  have  taken  the 
four-tenths  to  which  they  were  thus  entitled,  and  worked  this 
part  of  the  mine  without  any  further  liability  to  taxation.  In 
view,  however,  of  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  in  which  part  of 
the  diamondif  erous  area  the  pipe  lay,  they  elected  to  work  the 
whole  area  of  the  mine,  thus,  virtually,  entering  into  a  partner- 
ship with  the  Government,  to  whom  they  were  required  to  pay 
six-tenths  of  the  profits  earned. 

330 


THE    NEW   LAW 

the  old  law  the  calculation  was  based  on  the  annual  net  produce, 
but  this  is  now  based  upon  profits,  and  the  present  Act  defines 
the  method  by  which  the  meaning  of  the  term  "  profits  "  is  to 

be  arrived  at Under  the  new  Act  it  is  provided  that 

where  the  Government  are  entitled  to  a  share  of  profits  under 
certain  laws  mentioned  in  the  second  schedule,  or  under  any 
grant,  lease,  or  agreement,  to  an  amount  not  less  than  that 
leviable  under  the  new  law,  such  profits  will  be  exempt  from  the 
tax.  In  respect  of  minerals  other  than  gold  and  diamonds,  the 
Act  introduces  the  principle  of  the  sliding  scale  of  taxation, 
being  from  2£  per  cent,  on  profits  where  those  profits  do  not 
exceed  5  per  cent,  of  the  gross  revenue  ;  and  thereafter  for 
every  additional  1  per  cent,  of  profit  an  addition  of  ^th  per 
cent,  to  the  rate  of  taxation.  If  in  any  year  the  profits  of  any 
Company  affected  by  the  Act  do  not  exceed  £1 ,000,  those  profits 
are  entirely  exempt  from  the  tax  for  that  year. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  Act  does  not  affect  the 
Premier  Diamond  Mine  ;  since  in  the  case  of  this  mine 
the  Government  is  entitled  to  a  share  of  the  profits  six 
times  as  great  as  the  10  per  cent,  leviable  under  the  Act. 


331 


CHAPTER    IV 


AGRICULTURE  AND   STOCK-RAISING 

AGRICULTURE  is  the  weak  point  in  the  economic  system 
of  the  Union.  All  other  new  Anglo-Saxon  countries  have 
cultivated  their  virgin  soils  so  successfully,  that,  from 
almost  their  first  beginnings,  they  have  been  able  to 
export  large  quantities  of  agricultural  produce  to  Great 
Britain  and  other  thickly  populated  countries.  South 
Africa,  so  far  from  exporting  wheat  or  cattle,  has  not  yet 
succeeded  in  producing  food  sufficient  for  the  require- 
ments of  her  own  population.  The  one  considerable 
agricultural  export  of  the  Union  is  wool ;  but  the  South 
African  wool  export  of  £3,728,000  in  value  for  1909 
makes  a  poor  appearance  in  comparison  with  the 
£25,483,000  and  £6,305,888  of  wool  sent  respectively 
from  Australia  and  New  Zealand  in  the  same  year.  Still 
less  unsatisfactory  is  the  contrast  presented  between  the 
£681,575  worth  of  wheat  en  flour  and  meal  imported  into 
South  Africa,  and  the  £16,176,842  of  the  wheat  export 
of  Canada.  Other  examples  scarcely  less  striking  might 
be  added ;  but  the  columns  of  the  subjoined  table  will 
sufficiently  reveal  the  undeveloped  character  of  South 
African  agriculture,  and  the  paucity  of  its  production  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  other  dominions. 

Value  of  the  respective  exports  from  the  four  dominions 
of  the  undermentioned  articles  of  agricultural  produce 
in  1909: 


Meat. 

Wheat. 

Wool. 

Canada 

Australia 
New  Zealand  .  . 
South  Africa  .  . 

£2,559,000 
(Live  Stock) 

2,809,000 
3,733,000 

£3,054,630 

(Wheaten  Flour) 

13,122,212 

(Wheat) 

6,628,683 
305,902 

£113,689 

25,483,000 
6,305,888 
3.728,000 

[Compiled  from  the  Statistical  Abstract.] 
332 


PROGRESS   SINCE   THE   WAR 

On  the  other  hand,  in  spite  of  its  late  start — for,  as 
will  appear,  a  start  has  been  made  in  the  course  of  the 
last  few  years — all  who  know  the  country  are  agreed 
that  the  effective  development  of  the  agricultural 
resources  of  the  Union  is  now  assured.  In  the  first 
place,  South  African  agriculture,  owing  to  the  variety 
of  soil  and  climate,  admits  of  a  wider  range  of  industries 
than  is  to  be  found,  perhaps,  in  the  agriculture  of  any 
other  single  State.  Apart  from  corn-growing  and  stock- 
raising,  as  ordinarily  understood,  it  includes  the  raising 
of  Angora  goats  and  ostriches ;  the  cultivation,  of  the 
vine,  of  fruits  of  all  kinds,  and  of  the  Black  Wattle  ; 
and  the  growing  of  tropical  and  sub-tropical  produce 
such  as  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  and  cotton.  In  the 
second  place,  the  causes  mainly  responsible  for  its  back- 
ward condition  are  now  known  ;  and  it  is  recognised 
both  by  the  State  and  by  private  enterprise  that  their 
injurious  effects  can  be  diminished  largely,  if  not  alto- 
gether removed.  These  causes  are  the  prevalence  of 
stock  diseases  and  insect  pests,  and  drought.  Scientific 
knowledge,  backed  by  wise  regulations  firmly  enforced, 
has  done  much  to  eradicate  the  two  former  evils,  and 
the  extension  of  works  for  irrigation  and  water  storage, 
already  fruitful  of  good  results,  is  gradually  overcoming 
the  latter. 

After  the  war,  the  power  of  the  State  was  employed 
actively  in  rendering  assistance  to  the  farmers  of  the 
New  Colonies  ;  and  during  the  ten  years  which  have 
passed  since  the  Peace  of  Vereeniging,  South  African 
agriculture,  especially  in  the  Transvaal  and  Free  State 
provinces  of  the  Union,  has  made  an  appreciable  advance. 
Prior  to  the  war  the  standard  of  agriculture  in  the  (then) 
republics  was  markedly  inferior  to  that  attained  by  the 
farmers  in  the  British  Colonies  of  the  Cape  and  Natal. 
The  extent  of  this  inferiority  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that,  even  in  1909,  after  five  years  of  steady  progress 

333 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

in  the  New  Colonies  (1904-09),  the  value  of  the  agri- 
cultural exports  of  the  Cape  Colony  constituted  two- 
thirds  of  the  total  value  of  the  agricultural  produce 
exported  from  South  Africa.  But  in  this,  as  in  other 
respects,  Lord  Milner  made  it  possible  for  the  New 
colonies  to  come  into  line  with  the  rest  of  South  Africa. 
He  made  full  use  of  the  opportunity  presented  by  the 
destruction  of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep  during  the  war, 
to  introduce  breeds  of  stock,  which  were  both  better  in 
quality,  and  better  able  to  thrive  under  the  climatic 
conditions  of  the  various  districts,  than  those  which  they 
replaced.  The  Departments  of  Agriculture,  estab- 
lished under  his  direct  supervision,  not  only  gave  the 
farmers  a  practical  exhibition  of  the  methods  of  scientific 
agriculture  by  means  of  their  experimental  and  stud 
farms,  but  they  waged  unceasing  and  successful  war 
against  animal  diseases,  insect  pests,  and  noxious  herbs  ; 
and  gave  advice  and  assistance  in  matters  of  irrigation 
and  water  storage.  Moreover,  in  the  great  extension  of 
the  joint  railway  system  of  the  two  colonies,  which  was 
accomplished  under  the  Crown  Colony  administration, 
Lord  Milner  vigilantly  safeguarded  the  interests  of  agri- 
culture, with  the  result  that  the  main  food-producing 
districts  in  both  colonies  were  brought  into  direct  rail- 
way communication  with  the  Rand  and  other  profitable 
markets. 

The  advance  in  agriculture  since  the  war  is,  therefore, 
more  marked,  as,  indeed,  it  was  more  needed,  in  the 
Transvaal  and  Free  State  provinces.  The  progress 
achieved  may  be  seen  from  the  table  on  p.  335,  in  which 
the  year  1904,  as  being  the  first  normal  year  after  the 
repatriation,  is  compared  with  1909,  the  last  year  before 
the  Union  was  established. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Transvaal  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, advancing  upon  the  generous  lines  laid  down  by 
Lord  Milner,  had  become  the  most  completely  equipped 

334 


GRAIN    CROPS 


and  scientifically  organised  institution  of  its  kind  within 
the  Empire.  And  in  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to 
notice  that  Mr.  F.  B.  Smith,  who  was  chosen  by  Lord 
Milner  to  be  the  first  Director  of  Agriculture  for  the 
Transvaal  in  1902,  retained  his  position  under  Responsible 
Government  in  1906,  and  has  since  become,  as  Acting 


Wheat. 

Maize. 

Live  Stock. 

Acreage. 

Bushels. 

Acreage 

Bushels. 

Horses. 

Horned 
Cattle. 

Sheep. 

The  Transvaal— 

In  1904 
„  1909 
The  Free  State  — 

— 

255,906 
520,280 

600,000 

4,738,948 
8,020,650 

52,159 
125,95^ 

553,388 
899,673 

846,939 
3,011,906 

In  1904 

140,477 

211,947 

281,536 

1,291,810 

76,251 

363,204 

a,999,547 

„  1909 

218,342 

701,519 

433,414 

6,781,040 

132,574 

721,258 

7,481,251 

Secretary  for  Agriculture,  the  permanent  head  of  the 
Union  Department  of  Agriculture.  As  in  the  Transvaal, 
so  now  in  the  Union  Government,  General  Louis  Botha, 
the  Prime  Minister,  is  Minister  of  Agriculture  ;  and  it 
may  be  expected,  therefore,  that  the  methods  and 
machinery  so  successfully  employed  by  Mr.  Smith  under 
his  official  chief  in  the  Transvaal,  will  now  be  employed 
no  less  effectively  in  the  service  of  the  Union.  In  short, 
what  South  Africa  has  always  wanted — the  development 
of  her  agricultural  resources  as  a  whole  under  scientific 
guidance — is  well  within  sight. 

CEREALS 

The  national  grain  crop  of  South  Africa  is  maize 
(mealie),  which  can  be  grown  from  the  Cape  to  the 
Zambezi.  In  1909,  in  spite  of  the  large  demands  for 
local  consumption,  over  300,000,000  Ibs.  of  this  useful 
cereal,  of  the  value  of  £665,597,  were  exported.  Among 
the  provinces  of  the  Union,  the  Transvaal  was  the  largest 
producer  with  8,020,650  bushels  ;  the  Free  State  came 

1  Including  mules  and  asses. 

335 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

second  with  6,781,040  bushels;  while  Natal  and  the 
Cape  produced  respectively  2,393,460  and  1,428,987 
bushels.  What  is  said  to  be  the  largest  maize  farm  in 
South  Africa  is  to  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Vereeniging.  It  extends  for  22£  miles  diagonally,  and 
in  1909  it  had  an  area  of  6,000  acres  under  maize. 

In  the  production  of  wheat,  barley,  and  oats,  the 
Union,  as  we  have  noticed,  is  very  deficient.  These 
crops  are  grown,  however,  in  all  four  provinces,  although 
in  Natal  the  quantities  raised  are  very  small.  The  Cape 
Province  is  the  main  producer,  and  here  in  the  season 
1909-10  there  were  harvested  2,345,223  bushels  of  wheat 
on  335,294  acres  of  land ;  660,336  bushels  of  barley  on 
63,165  acres ;  and  2,395,401  bushels  of  oats  on  331,766 
acres.  In  the  same  year,  the  Free  State  produced 
701,519  bushels  of  wheat  on  218,342  acres,  and  1,566,993 
bushels  of  oats  on  133,180  acres  ;  and  the  Transvaal 
520,280  bushels  of  wheat  on  an  unreturned  acreage.1 
For  purposes  of  comparison,  the  subjoined  table  is  added  : 

Wheat  production  of  Canada,  Australia,  and  New 
Zealand  in  the  year  1909 : 


Acres. 

Bushels. 

Canada 
Australia 
New  Zealand  .  . 

8,063,000 
6,586,236 
311,000 

163,202,000 
90,413,597 
8,661,100 

In  the  Cape  Province  the  chief  wheat-growing  areas 
are  to  be  found  in  the  south-west  districts,  lying  between 
the  barrier  ranges  and  the  sea  to  the  north  and  south- 
east of  Capetown  ;  but  in  recent  years  the  utilisation  of 
the  flood  waters  of  the  Zak  River  for  irrigation  has 
brought  promise  of  wheat  production  on  a  large  scale 

1  The  figures  are  taken  from  the  "  Statistical  Abstract." 
There  are  no  returns  given  of  the  Transvaal  production  of  oats. 

336 


MECHANICAL   TRACTION 

in  the  dry  and  sparsely  populated  north-western  districts 
of  the  province.  Outside  the  Cape  there  are  areas 
specially  suited  for  wheat  both  in  the  Free  State  and 
the  Transvaal :  such,  for  example,  as  the  tract  of  land 
on  the  Basuto  border,  between  Bethlehem  and  Wepener, 
known  as  the  "  Conquered  Territory/'  in  the  east  of  the 
former  province,  and  the  country  between  Zeerust  and 
Lichtenburg  in  the  west  of  the  latter. 

In  view  of  the  backwardness  of  South  Africa  in  the 
production  of  corn,  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  level- 
ness  of  much  of  the  area  of  the  great  plateaux,  joined 
with  the  general  dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  make  many 
districts  of  the  Union  specially  suitable  for  cultivation 
by  steam-drawn  machines.  On  the  high  country  in  the 
Transvaal,  steam  ploughing  by  the  double-engine  system 
can  be  continued  without  interruption  from  the  weather 
through  the  whole  of  the  year,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  absence  of  rain  and  damp  reduces  the  wear  and  tear 
of  the  machinery  and  gear.  In  the  160,000,000  acres  of 
the  Dry-land  Zone  of  South  Africa,  therefore,  there 
would  seem  to  be  an  ample  and  remunerative  field  for 
the  application  of  steam  power  and  motor  traction  to 
farming  operations  on  a  great  scale.  The  prevalence  of 
animal  diseases  is  another  circumstance  which  makes  the 
introduction,  where  possible,  of  the  direct  and  cable 
system  of  mechanical  ploughing,  and  the  use  of  steam 
and  petrol  tractors  in  general,  a  matter  of  special  impor- 
tance to  South  African  agriculture.  To  replace  animal 
by  mechanical  traction,  wholly  or  in  part,  would  render 
the  farmer  independent  of  cattle,  horses,  mules,  and 
asses  for  ploughing  operations  and  transport  in  times  of 
animal  epidemics,  and  thereby  relieve  him  of  one  of  his 
greatest  anxieties.  It  would,  moreover,  make  it  possible 
to  cultivate  some  low-lying,  but  eminently  fertile,  dis- 
tricts, which  are  now  closed  to  agriculture  as  being 
especially  subject  to  such  visitations. 

337 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

STOCK-RAISING 

There  are  within  the  Union  abundant  areas  eminently 
suitable  for  the  breeding  and  pasturage  of  horses,  horned 
cattle,  and  sheep  ;  and  in  wool,  of  which  there  is  a  con- 
siderable export,  the  South  African  farmer  finds  his  chief 
and  most  general  source  of  revenue.  In  the  pastoral 
industries,  as  in  wheat  production,  the  Cape  is  notably 
superior  to  the  other  provinces,  and  she  claims  that  her 
live  stock  is  more  numerous  than  the  collective  stock  of 
the  three  remaining  provinces.  Although  the  Free  State 
is  now  a  large  producer  of  wool,  most  of  the  total  South 
African  export,  amounting  in  1909  to  nearly  four 
millions  sterling  in  value,  still  comes  from  the  Cape 
Province,  which  in  the  same  year  possessed  18,807,168 
sheep,  as  against  7,481,251  in  the  Free  State  ;  3,011,906 
in  the  Transvaal ;  and  1,068,996  in  NataL  The  founda- 
tion of  this — the  staple  agricultural  industry  of  the 
Union — was  laid  early  in  the  period  of  British  rule  by 
the  introduction  into  the  Cape  of  the  Merino  sheep,  the 
producer  of  fine  wool,  by  Reitz  and  Breda  in  1812 ;  by 
Lord  Charles  Somerset  (1814-26)  ;  and  by  the  Albany 
settlers  in  1820.  Forty  years  later,  23,172,785  Ibs.  of 
wool  was  exported  from  the  Cape  ;  in  1871  the  export 
had  risen  to  48,822,562  Ibs.,  while  in  1909  it  was 
102,346,692  Ibs.,  of  the  value  of  £2,854,835. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  stock-raising,  a  brief 
reference  must  be  made  to  the  special  liability  of  the 
South  African  farmer  to  visitations  of  animal  diseases. 
These  outbreaks,  which  have  inflicted  enormous  losses 
upon  the  pastoral  industries  in  the  past,  have  been 
checked  and  controlled,  since  the  war,  more  and  more 
successfully  by  the  gradual  fencing  of  the  farms,  and 
the  framing  and  enforcement  of  effective  regulations  for 
the  prompt  destruction  or  isolation  of  infected  animals. 
That  they  have  still  to  be  reckoned  with,  however,  may 
be  seen  from  the  record  of  the  destruction  recently 

338 


THE   ANGORA 

worked  in  Natal  by  the  rinderpest,  or  East  Coast  cattle 
fever.  The  disease  was  afforded  an  opportunity  of 
passing  through  Zululand  into  Natal  by  the  disorganisa- 
tion of  the  local  administration  consequent  upon  the 
native  insurrection  of  1906.  The  effect  of  its  presence  is 
registered  in  the  yearly  returns  of  the  live  stock  of  the 
province.  In  1905  Natal  possessed  783,887  head  of 
horned  cattle.  The  number  feU  to  634,547  in  1906,  and 
to  416,527  in  1907  ;  while  in  1909  it  had  risen  only  to 
502,212.  It  is  satisfactory  to  be  able  to  add  that  pro- 
vision has  been  made  in  the  Union  Budget  of  1911  for 
the  advance  by  Government  of  a  considerable  sum  on 
loan  to  the  Natal  farmers,  to  enable  them  to  erect 
fences ;  and  it  may  be  hoped,  therefore,  that  in  the 
future  Natal  will  be  able  to  offer  a  more  effectual 
resistance  to  the  progress  of  the  disease. 

THE  ANGORA  GOAT 

Important  as  is  the  production  of  wool,  in  the  raising 
of  the  Angora  goat  and  the  ostrich  we  have  two 
industries  of  special  interest  as  being  more  character- 
istically South  African.  The  Angora,  which  furnishes 
mohair,  is  chiefly  raised  in  the  midland  and  upper  dis- 
tricts of  the  Cape  Province,  but  it  is  also  bred  in  con- 
siderable numbers  on  the  uplands  in  the  south-east  of 
the  Free  State.  The  value  of  the  hair  of  this  animal, 
which  is  a  native  of  the  central  plateaux  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  is  found  also  in  the  highlands  of  Persia  and  Kashmir, 
was  known  to  antiquity  ;  and  it  provided  the  material 
out  of  which  the  hangings  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  robes  of  the  ancient  kings  of  Persia,  were  woven. 
The  Dutch  East  India  Company  endeavoured  to  intro- 
duce the  Angora  into  the  Cape  Colony  as  early  as  1725, 
bringing  the  goats  from  Kashmir  to  Ceylon,  then  in  its 
possession,  and  thence  to  the  Cape.  This  endeavour, 
however,  failed  ;  and  subsequent  attempts,  made  early 

339 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

in  the  last  century,  met  with  no  more  than  a  partial 
success.  The  founder  of  the  industry  was  Adolph 
Mosenthal,  who,  with  the  active  assistance  of  Lord 
Stratford  de  Redclyffe,  the  British  Ambassador  at  Con- 
stantinople, himself  secured  a  number  of  these  fine- 
haired  goats  from  Asia  Minor,  out  of  which  he  succeeded 
in  landing  thirty  rams  and  ewes  at  the  Cape  in  1856. 
These  formed  the  parent  stock  from  which  the  pure- 
bred Angoras  of  the  Midland  and  Eastern  districts  have 
descended.  To  these  names  should  be  added  that  of 
Sir  Titus  Salt,  the  Yorkshire  manufacturer,  who  did 
much  to  develop  the  use  of  the  Cape  mohair  in  England. 
In  1860  the  export  of  Angora  hair  was  385  Ibs.  ;  in  1870 
it  had  risen  to  403,153  Ibs.  ;  and  in  1909  it  was  returned 
at  19,649,053  Ibs.,  of  the  value  of  £861,639.  The  Cape 
mohair  is  not  quite  so  fine  in  quality  as  the  Asiatic  pro- 
duct, but  the  clip  is  said  to  be  more  ample.  The  value 
of  the  hair  fluctuates  somewhat  in  response  to  changes 
of  fashion,  and  the  Cape  farmers  are  learning,  therefore, 
to  maintain  a  steady  market  by  studying  the  varying 
requirements  of  the  importers. 

The  Angora  goat  is  a  beautiful  as  well  as  a  valuable 
animal.  It  has  a  small  and  shapely  head,  surmounted 
in  both  sexes  by  long,  flat,  corrugated  horns  extending 
from  18  to  24  in.  ;  and  its  fleece,  which  is  white  and 
lustrous,  falls  almost  to  the  ground  in  natural  ringlets. 
The  herds  give  little  trouble  to  the  farmer,  and  are  left 
to  roam  unrestrained  over  the  grass-clad  uplands.  The 
breeders  of  the  Angora  in  the  Cape  Province  are  making 
it  their  object  to  produce  a  strain,  which,  without  being 
inferior  to  the  original  Eastern  stock  in  the  quality  of 
the  hair,  will  be  more  completely  adapted  to  the  new 
environment ;  and  with  a  view  of  protecting  the  industry 
against  the  endeavours  which  have  been  made  to  introduce 
and  acclimatise  the  Cape  Angora  in  the  United  States, 
the  export  of  these  animals  has  been  forbidden  by  law. 

340 


THE   OSTRICH 

OSTRICH  FARMING 

The  feather  industry  originated  in  the  Cape,  and, 
although  ostriches  are  now  raised  in  all  four  provinces 
of  the  Union,  the  bulk  of  the  large  annual  export  of 
ostrich  feathers  is  still  produced  in  this  province.  The 
actual  birth  of  the  industry  is  to  be  attributed  to 
Arthur  Douglass,  of  Albany,  who,  in  1869,  perfected  an 
artificial  incubator,  and  by  this  means  brought  about 
the  domestication  of  the  bird.  Prior  to  Douglass*  inven- 
tion, the  wild  birds  were  hunted,  killed,  and  stripped  of 
their  feathers.  Then,  at  a  later  date,  young  birds  up  to 
seven  months  old  were  caught  and  kept  with  other  farm 
stock.  This  plan,  however,  was  attended  by  very  slight 
success,  since  the  birds,  when  full-grown,  proved  fierce 
and  unmanageable  ;  and  in  1865  the  number  of  ostriches 
included  in  the  returns  of  the  live  stock  of  the  colony 
was  only  eighty.  The  value  of  the  incubator  lay  in  the 
fact  that  it  enabled  successive  generations  of  birds  to  be 
hatched  and  brought  up  by  hand ;  and  these  birds, 
being  accustomed  to  man  from  birth,  became  increasingly 
tame,  until  in  course  of  time  the  domestication  of  the 
ostrich  was  accomplished. 

The  chief  seat  of  the  industry  is  in  the  Oudtshoorn 
district  of  the  Cape,  but  it  is  also  carried  on  largely  in 
the  eastern  districts  of  the  same  province.  The  best 
pasture  for  the  ostrich  is  lucerne  ;  and  it  is  calculated 
that  an  acre  of  lucerne  will  carry  three  birds,  each  of 
which  will  furnish  in  two  years  three  crops  of  feathers, 
yielding  an  average  profit  of  from  £5  to  £7  per  plucking. 
Rape  is  another  favourite  pasturage,  and  the  birds  thrive 
on  the  bushes  of  the  karroo  in  conjunction  with  other 
pasture.  They  are  also  fed  by  hand,  and  in  this  case 
maize  is  the  principal  article  of  diet.  Since  the  problem 
of  domestication  was.  solved  the  ostrich  farmer  has  made 
a  further  advance.  By  carefully  selecting  the  parent 
birds,  and  observing  the  variations  in  the  plumage  of  the 

341 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

respective  offspring,  he  has  gradually  evolved  strains 
which  are  capable  of  producing  feathers  far  superior  to 
those  of  the  primitive  bird  in  form,  texture,  and  colour. 
It  is  by  the  production  of  these  high  grade  feathers,  and 
incidentally  by  the  sale  of  stock  for  breeding  purposes, 
that  the  ostrich  farmer  makes  his  largest  profits. 

The  progress  of  the  industry  is  exhibited  in  the 
increasing  weight  and  value  of  the  feathers  annually 
exported.  With  the  introduction  of  the  incubator,  the 
export  rose  from  17,000  Ibs.,  in  1869,  to  28,768  Ibs.  in 
1870  ;  in  1895  it  was  353,651  Ibs.  in  weight  and  £527,782 
in  value  ;  and  in  1909  it  was  returned  as  being  788,262  Ibs., 
of  the  value  of  £2,091,280 — a  return  which  shows  that  a 
considerable  appreciation  in  the  value  per  Ib.  has  taken 
place  in  recent  years.  It  should  be  added  that,  in  order 
to  maintain  the  virtual  monopoly  of  the  ostrich  feather 
industry  possessed  by  the  Cape,  an  export  tax  of  £100 
per  bird  and  £5  per  egg  was  imposed  in  1883  by  the 
(then)  Government. 

The  following  account,  which  is  taken  from  an  article 
contributed  by  Mr.  Arthur  Douglass  to  the  Cape  Official 
Handbook  for  1893,  gives  an  excellent  picture  of  an 
ostrich  farm : 

We  can  imagine  nothing  more  delightful  and  interesting  to  a 
traveller  than  a  visit  to  a  large  ostrich  farm.  Let  us  try  and 
describe  what  may  be  seen  on  one  we  know  well.  The  size  of 
the  farm  is  13,000  acres,  situated  in  the  Eastern  Province  of  the 
Cape  Colony.  The  herbage  is  a  mixture  of  grass  and  succulent 
karroo  bushes.  The  rainfall  in  this  part  of  the  Eastern  Province 
is  too  uncertain  to  allow  of  cultivation  without  irrigation,  so  the 
cultivation  is  confined  to  a  few  acres  of  lucerne  irrigated  by 
pumps ;  some  soft  green  food  being  indispensable  for  rearing 
the  little  ostrich  chicks  during  droughts.  On  the  farm  are  kept  600 
ostriches  and  400  breeding  cattle.  The  whole  property  is  enclosed 
by  strong  wire  fences  5  ft.  high,  and  subdivided  into  numerous 
camps,  with  similar  fences.  Near  the  homestead  the  camps  are 
of  about  100  acres  each,  being  appropriated  to  the  rearing  of  the 
young  birds.  Beyond  these,  again,  are  camps  of  about  25  acres 
each,  these  being  given  up  to  a  superior  pair  of  old  birds  in  each 
camp  for  breeding,  whilst  beyond  these  again  are  large  camps  of 

342 


' 


CAPE   WINES 

about  2,600  acres  in  extent,  with  150  birds  in  each.  But  let  us 
take  a  stroll  in  these  camps  and  see  what  is  going  on.  Here,  in 
the  first,  we  find  an  old  Hottentot  with  about  30  little  ostriches 
only  a  few  days  old  around  him.  These  have  all  been  hatched 
in  the  incubator,  and  he  is  acting  as  nurse  to  them,  cutting  up 
lucerne  for  them  to  eat,  supplying  them  with  fine  gravel  to  fill 
their  gizzards  with  to  grind  their  food,  breaking  up  bones  to  let 
them  get  a  supply  of  phosphates,  and  giving  them  wheat  and 
water  ;  and  at  sundown  he  will  bring  them  back  to  the  incubator 
for  warmth,  or  should  the  weather  change  and  rain  come  on,  he 
will  be  seen  hurrying  home  with  his  thirty  little  children  following 
him  to  a  warm,  well-lighted  room  with  a  clean  sanded  floor. 
In  the  next  camp  we  have  a  pair  of  birds  and  about  fifteen  chicks, 
accompanied  by  a  Kafir,  who  has  been  with  them  every  day 
from  the  time  they  hatched  to  get  them  tame  and  accustomed 
to  man.  These  have  been  hatched  by  the  parent  birds,  who  will 
brood  them  at  night  in  the  camp. 

WINE  PRODUCTION 

From  a  historical  point  of  view,  viticulture  is  the  most 
interesting  branch  of  South  African  agriculture.  The 
foundation  of  the  industry  takes  us  back  to  the  very 
birth  of  the  Dutch  settlement,  to  the  days  of  the  Van 
der  Stells,  and  to  the  Huguenot  immigration  of  1688 ; 
and  the  country  in  which  the  wine  farms  are  found  is 
not  only  the  earliest  settled,  but  in  many  respects  the 
most  picturesque  in  South  Africa.  For,  although  the 
vine  is  cultivated  successfully  in  the  Free  State  and  the 
Transvaal,  the  production  of  wine  is  almost  entirely 
confined  to  the  Cape  Province.  Here,  on  the  mountain 
slopes  and  in  the  valleys  of  the  south-western  corner  of 
"  the  old  colony,"  are  to  be  found  the  coal-black  roofs  of 
thatch,  the  quaint  gables,  the  gleaming  whitewashed 
walls  and  the  tree-shaded  courtyards  of  the  old  Dutch 
wine  farms. 

From  the  time  of  Simon  Van  der  Stell  on  wards,  a  certain 
quantity  of  the  wine  produced  at  the  Cape  was  regularly 
sent  home  to  Holland  for  the  use  of  the  directors  of  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company ;  and  after  the  British 
occupation  the  English  sovereigns,  as  the  successors  of 

343 

«3— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


the  Dutch  Company  and  Government,  continued  to 
profit  by  the  right  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
when,  upon  the  petition  of  the  Cape  wine  farmers  of  that 
day,  this  tax  upon  the  industry — as  they  regarded  it — 
was  abolished.  The  sequel  is  significant.  Constantia 
and  other  Cape  wines,  being  no  longer  seen  upon  the 
Royal  table,  lost  the  vogue  which  they  had  hitherto 
enjoyed  ;  and  when,  as  the  result  of  the  commercial 
treaty  negotiated  with  France  by  Cobden,  the  duties  on 
French,  and  afterwards  Spanish,  wines  were  greatly 
reduced,  the  Cape  vintages  practically  disappeared  from 
the  English  market. 

The  districts  in  which  the  wine  grape  is  chiefly  culti- 
vated are  those  of  the  Cape,  SteUenbosch,  the  Paarl, 
Worcester,  and  Robertson.  In  the  first  three  of  these 
the  rainfall  suffices  for  the  vines,  but  in  the  two  latter  the 
vineyards  are  watered  by  irrigation.  The  climate  and 
soil  of  the  Cape  is  especially  suitable  for  the  vine ;  and 
the  degree  in  which  the  vineyards  within  this  area  exceed 
in  productiveness  those  of  any  other  country  may  be 
seen  from  the  subjoined  table. 

Table  showing  the  respective  quantities  of  wine 
produced  from  10,000  vines  (or  1  hectare)  in  the 
undermentioned  countries  : 


Hungary,  1863-72 
Germany. . 
Austria,  1874-80 
Switzerland 
France,  1873-83 
Italy 
Spain 
Greece 
Algeria,  1882 
United  States 
Australia . . 
Cape  Colony — Coast  districts 
— Inland 


24  hectolitres  per  hectare. 
24 


42 

18* 

14* 

17 
17f 

25* 
14* 
H* 
86* 
173 


[From  Baron  von  Babo's  standard  work  on  "  Viticulture,"  as 
quoted  in  the  Cape  Official  Handbook,  1893.] 

344 


REPLANTING   OF   VINEYARDS 

The  comparative  failure  of  the  Cape  industry,  and  the 
virtual  exclusion  of  its  production  from  the  English 
market,  cannot  be  attributed,  therefore,  to  any  deficiency 
of  soil  or  climate.  The  inferior  quality  of  the  Cape  wines, 
according  to  a  report  furnished  to  the  Cape  Government 
in  1894,  was  due  to  the  fact  that  none  of  the  Cape 
farmers,  with  the  exception  of  those  in  the  Constantia 
district,  understood  the  treatment  of  the  grape,  or  the 
great  cleanliness  necessary  for  the  production  of  good 
wine  and  brandy.  Since  the  period  of  this  report,  how- 
ever, great  efforts  have  been  made  by  the  agricultural 
department  of  the  (former)  colony  both  to  improve  the 
character  of  the  Cape  vineyards  and  to  reform  the  methods 
of  wine  production  pursued  by  the  farmers.  These  efforts 
have  been  facilitated  by  the  destruction  wrought  by  the 
phylloxera  in  1886  and  subsequent  years,  which  has  led 
to  the  complete  reconstruction  of  the  vineyards  of  the 
more  important  and  progressive  growers. 

In  view  of  the  continued  prevalence  of  the  insect  and 
the  increase  of  the  area  attacked  by  it,  the  Government 
obtained  supplies  of  the  phylloxera-resisting  vines  of 
America,  and  established  nurseries  in  the  various  wine- 
producing  districts,  in  which  young  plants  were  grown 
from  the  imported  vines.  It  was  thus  learnt  by  gradu- 
ally acquired  experience  that  the  Cape  vines  grafted  on 
to  the  American  stocks  produced  a  yield  of  grapes 
superior  both  in  quality  and  quantity  to  that  of  vines 
raised  directly  from  the  cuttings.  The  desirability  of 
forming  the  reconstituted  vineyards  out  of  Cape  vines 
grafted  on  to  American  stocks  having  once  been  estab- 
lished, it  still  remained  to  ascertain,  again  by  experiment 
and  observation,  which  stocks  were  most  suitable  for  the 
respective  growths  of  vines.  The  process  was  a  long 
one,  and  it  is  stated  that  the  question  of  appropriate 
stocks  has  not  been  decided  even  yet  in  all  cases.  In 
the  course  of  the  last  twenty  years,  therefore,  the  greater 

345 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

part  of  the  vineyards  have  been  dug  up,  and  replanted 
with  the  best  varieties  of  the  Cape  vines  grafted  on  to 
the  American  stocks  ascertained  to  be  most  suitable  in 
each  case. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  Cape  vineyards  has  been 
accompanied  by  a  gradual  improvement  in  the  methods 
of  wine  production  and  distillation  of  spirits.  In  this 
work  a  leading  part  has  been  played  by  the  Government 
wine  farm  at  Constantia,  "  Groot  Constantia,"  the  vine- 
yard laid  out  by  Governor  Simon  Van  der  Stell  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  where  examples  of  the 
best  methods  and  appliances  are  exhibited  for  the  benefit 
of  the  wine  producers  of  the  provinces.  And,  in  addition 
to  this  model  wine  farm,  an  Experiment  Station  and 
Oenological  Institute  has  been  established  recently  at 
the  Paarl  by  the  Agricultural  Department. 

The  earnings  of  the  wine  farmer  are  not  confined,  how- 
ever, to  the  profits  realised  by  the  sale  of  wine  and  brandy. 
In  addition  to  these,  he  obtains  an  appreciable  return 
from  the  growing  of  fresh  grapes  for  the  market,  and  by 
the  production  of  vinegar  and  raisins.  Indeed,  it  is 
calculated  that  while  the  industry,  as  a  whole,  maintains 
a  population  of  some  100,000  persons,  10  acres  under 
vines  will  support  a  family  in  comfort.  The  industry, 
therefore,  is  a  valuable  one  from  an  economic  point  of 
view,  since  it  permits  of  close  settlement  in  a  conspicuous 
degree. 

The  table  on  p.  347  exhibits  in  detail  the  areas  and 
localities  of  the  Cape  vineyards,  and  the  classes  and 
quantities  of  wine  and  brandy  respectively  produced  in 
the  season  of  1909. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  this  production  is  consumed 
within  the  Union.  The  export  of  Cape  wine,  which  has 
fallen  in  recent  years,  amounted  in  1909  to  48,152  gallons, 
of  the  value  of  £9,229.  The  Australian  export  for  the 
same  year  was  976,647  gallons,  of  the  value  of  £125,443. 

346 


S  1/5  Ttn/5  eo  t^>  o  ••<  CN  ' 

§/>  CM  »-  <y>  vo-«focoo< 

!_,  O*  t^                   C5  CO  ••*  i 

i 


8, 


rfooo     — «     moo          r*t>«oooo< 

—  t>U3    11/5    I  •^»'»-i    I     iMi—O       i 


:s  .^^^sg^g 


C*^U5  O  t^      •-  C^ 


o«o     t> «o  r* & ip N  oo M  < 

CO  oi    i  CO       <-"       N  1/5  < 


i  r**     oo  oo  05 1*^  co  co 


1 1 1 1 1 1- 1 1 1  Igl  1 1 


I  OOM    I  «DC» 

'5&1 


I S  I  II  °°  I  I S  I  I  I  1 8  I  1 2 


COCO  COM       1/5 


Jar. 


.  W)^^ 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

It  may  be  hoped,  however,  that  when  the  reconstruction 
of  the  vineyards  is  completed,  and  the  quality  of  the  pro- 
duction has  been  still  further  improved,  the  oldest  of 
South  African  industries  will  regain  its  footing  in  the 
English  market.  It  should  be  added  that  in  1909, 
besides  the  21,552  acres  in  the  Cape  Province,  1,075 
acres  were  returned  in  the  Free  State  as  being  under 
vines. 

SUGAR,  TEA,  AND  WATTLE  BARK 

These  three  industries  are  grouped  together  as  being 
peculiar  to  the  Province  of  Natal.  The  sugar  plantations 
and  tea  gardens  are  to  be  found  in  the  warm,  semi-tropical 
coast  belt ;  while  wattle  planting  is  carried  on  mainly  in 
the  higher  country  of  the  second  terrace,  or  midland 
belt,  which  is  from  1,000  to  3,000  ft.  above  sea-level. 

The  sugar  industry  possesses  a  special  economic  interest, 
as  affording  an  example  of  an  industry  which,  up  to  the 
present  time,  has  been  worked  regularly  by  indentured 
Asiatic  labour.  A  commencement  of  sugar  planting  was 
made  at  the  time  of  the  Byrne  immigration  (1848-52), 
when,  in  1849,  several  acres  on  the  Compensation  Flats, 
about  35  miles  north  of  Durban,  were  planted  with  cane. 
The  earliest  mills  were  driven  by  oxen,  the  machinery 
and  methods  of  cultivation  were  extremely  primitive, 
and  the  planters  were  dependent  upon  native  African 
labour.  Some  progress  was  made,  but  it  was  found  that 
the  refusal  of  the  natives  to  undertake  regular  and  con- 
tinuous employment  prevented  them  from  acquiring  even 
the  minimum  training  necessary  to  produce  efficient  work- 
men ;  and  in  1859  the  importation  of  indentured  labour 
from  India  was  sanctioned  by  the  Government.  The 
new  labour  supply  produced  an  immediate  expansion  of 
the  industry,  and  added  greatly  to  the  general  prosperity 
of  the  little  colony.  In  1866,  when  some  5,600  coolies 
had  been  introduced,  the  importation  ceased.  It  was 

348 


INDIAN   LABOUR 

resumed  in  1874,  when  a  fresh  expansion  of  the  industry 
took  place,  which  was  accompanied,  as  before,  by  a 
quickening  of  the  development  of  the  colony  as  a  whole, 
and  an  increase  of  its  revenue.  From  this  date  onwards 
the  importation  of  indentured  Indian  labour  was  con- 
tinued, until  in  1911,  in  view  of  the  exclusion  of  Asiatic 
settlers  from  South  Africa,  the  Indian  Government 
refused  to  allow  any  more  Indians  to  be  employed  as 
indentured  labourers  in  Natal.  At  the  present  time, 
therefore,  the  sugar  planters  are  confronted  with  the 
difficulty  of  having  to  find  a  fresh  labour  supply  capable 
of  replacing  the  indentured  Indian  coolies,  whose  services 
have  been  regarded  hitherto  as  essential  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  industry. 

The  growth  of  the  industry  may  be  traced  by  the 
annual  returns.  In  1858,  before  the  introduction  of 
Indian  labour,  there  were  1,490  acres  under  cane.  In 
1869,  15,892  acres  had  been  planted,  of  which  5,757  were 
reaped  ;  7,823  tons  of  sugar  were  produced  ;  and  34,778 
gallons  of  rum  were  distilled.  Ten  years  later,  expert 
planters  and  trained  factory  hands  were  brought  over 
from  Mauritius,  the  Natal  Central  Sugar  Company's 
factory  at  Mount  Edgecombe  was  erected,  and  improved 
methods  of  cultivation  and  sugar  extraction  were  intro- 
duced. The  expansion  consequent  upon  these  measures 
continued  until  the  progress  of  the  industry  was  checked 
by  the  general  fall  in  the  market  price  of  sugar,  which, 
beginning  in  1883,  showed  a  decline  in  1889  of  50  per  cent, 
as  against  the  level  of  1861,  and  has  continued  until 
quite  recent  years,  when  at  last  a  slight  recovery  has 
taken  place.  The  Natal  planters,  however,  with  few 
exceptions,  survived  the  fall  in  price,  and  the  returns 
from  1895  onwards  record  an  almost  continuous  increase 
in  both  the  acreage  of  the  plantations  and  the  production 
of  sugar.  In  that  year  (1895)  14,732  acres  were  under 
cane,  and  411,620  cwts.  of  sugar  were  produced.  In 

349 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

1905  the  acreage  had  risen  to  45,865  and  the  production 
to  532,067  cwts.  In  1909,  when  a  sudden  increase  of 
production  had  taken  place,  there  were  46,567  acres 
under  cane,  and  1,549,821  cwts.  of  sugar  were  produced. 

At  present  the  sugar  cane  requires  two  years'  growth 
to  bring  it  to  maturity,  and  only  one-half  of  the  planta- 
tions are  reaped  in  each  year.  In  1909  there  were 
thirty-four  mills  in  full  operation,  and  more  than  8,000 
persons  were  employed  in  the  industry.  The  wages  of 
the  indentured  Indians  are  from  10s.  to  15s.  a  month 
for  men,  and  from  7s.  6d.  to  5s.  for  women,  with  quarters 
and  rations ;  while  "  free  "  Indians  (i.e.,  Indians  who, 
after  completing  the  term  of  their  contract,  settled  in 
the  province  prior  to  the  prohibition  of  Asiatic  immigra- 
tion) are  paid  from  £1  to  £2  a  month.  The  Natal  sugar 
production,  which  is  of  the  approximate  value  of  £500,000, 
is  absorbed  almost  entirely  by  South  Africa.  In  1909 
only  2,705  cwts.  were  exported  to  the  United  Kingdom. 
As,  however,  South  Africa  spends  over  a  million  sterling 
annually  on  sugar,  and  at  present  imports  largely  from 
oversea  countries,  the  Natal  planters  have  every  reason 
to  increase  their  output.  It  is  believed  that  this  object 
can  be  secured  not  merely  by  extending  the  area  of  the 
plantations,  but  by  increasing  their  productiveness. 
Efforts  are  being  made,  therefore,  by  experimental 
investigation  and  by  the  careful  selection  of  the  plants, 
to  reduce  the  period  required  for  bringing  the  cane  to 
maturity,  and  to  improve  the  yield  both  in  quantity  and 
quality.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  hoped  to  increase  the 
percentage  of  sugar  extracted  by  an  extended  use  of 
large  central  factories,  in  which  the  latest  and  most 
successful  chemical  and  other  methods  will  be  fully 
employed. 

The  warmth  and  moisture  which  the  tea  garden  requires 
are  provided  in  a  high  degree  by  the  coast  belt  of  Natal, 
but  its  higher  altitudes  (roughly,  1,000  ft.  above 

350 


TEA   AND   WATTLE    BARK 

sea-level)  are  most  favourable  to  the  growth  of  the  plant. 
In  1895  the  acreage  under  tea  was  2,297,  and  the  pro- 
duction 737,000  Ibs.  ;  in  1909  the  returns  showed  that 
the  acreage  had  advanced  to  5,909,  and  the  production 
to  1,773,202  Ibs.  There  is  an  ample  supply  of  land 
suitable  for  the  tea  plant  in  the  Province,  and  it  is  calcu- 
lated that  the  Lower  Tugela  Division  of  the  Victoria 
county  alone  contains  an  area  of  such  land  sufficient  to 
supply  all  South  Africa  with  tea.  As  a  pursuit,  the 
industry  has  much  to  recommend  it.  Unlike  coffee  and 
cinchona,  the  plants,  when  once  established,  are  per- 
manent. Drought  is  practically  the  only  evil  to  be 
feared  by  the  planters,  since  the  tea  garden  cannot  be 
burnt  and  is  not  subject  to  the  attacks  of  locusts.  Natal 
tea  is  less  full-flavoured  than  the  produce  of  India  and 
Ceylon  ;  but  it  can  claim  to  be  more  wholesome,  as  con- 
taining 7-J  per  cent,  less  tannic  acid,  while  it  is  richer  in 
the  stimulating  caffein.  As  in  the  case  of  the  sugar 
industry,  Indian  labour  has  been  employed  hitherto  in 
the  tea  gardens  and  factories  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
plants,  and  the  picking  and  preparation  of  the  leaf. 

The  cultivation  of  the  black  wattle,  the  famous  pro- 
ducer of  tan  bark,  and  a  native  of  South-eastern 
Australia,  is  one  of  the  most  lucrative  of  the  agricultural 
industries  of  South  Africa.  It  is  carried  on  chiefly  in 
the  Midland  Belt  of  the  Natal  Province,  where  it  has 
added  a  new  and  pleasing  feature  to  the  countryside, 
and  in  certain  districts  raised  the  value  of  the  land,  since 
the  wattle  can  be  grown  on  soils  unsuitable  for  ordinary 
cultures.  It  is  the  only  timber  industry  which  gives  a 
full  return  within  a  few  years,  and  henceforth  maintains 
this  return  in  perpetuity.  It  yields  ample  profits  ;  and 
the  capital  expenditure  is  small,  as  little  or  no  machinery 
is  necessary.  Moreover,  the  culture  of  the  tree  and  the 
preparation  of  the  bark  are  both  so  simple,  that  no 
expert  knowledge  is  required,  and  they  can  be  carried 

351 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

on  successfully  by  a  farmer  of  average  experience  and 
intelligence.  The  industry  began  in  1886  with  an  export 
of  bark  valued  at  £11.  Ten  years  later,  67,580  cwts.,  of 
the  value  of  £16,450,  were  exported ;  and  in  1909,  with 
some  150,000  acres  planted  with  black  wattle,  the  Pro- 
vince exported  705,849  cwts.,  of  the  value  of  £192,950. 
The  European  demand  for  bark  for  tanning  purposes 
is  very  large,  and  almost  the  entire  production  of  Natal 
is  shipped  to  the  United  Kingdom ;  as,  however,  black 
bark  does  not  suit  the  requirements  of  the  English 
market,  the  Natal  export  is  largely  sold  to  Continental 
buyers. 

TOBACCO  AND  COTTON 

Certain  areas  in  the  Transvaal  and  Rhodesia  are  as 
eminently  suited,  alike  in  climate  and  soil,  for  the  pro- 
duction of  tobacco  and  cotton,  as  are  the  south-western 
districts  of  the  Cape  for  the  cultivation  of  the  wine  grape. 
Prior  to  the  war,  tobacco  was  grown  by  the  farmers  in 
the  Transvaal,  and  the  leaf  cured  by  very  primitive 
methods  ;  and  this  "  Boer  tobacco  "  was  used  largely  in 
South  Africa  and  not  unknown  in  England.  After  the 
war,  the  question  of  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  cotton, 
and  other  tropical  plants  was  taken  up  by  the  newly- 
established  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  by  private 
enterprise.  Tzaneen,  a  derelict  tobacco  estate  in  the 
Zoutpansberg  district,  was  purchased  by  the  Administra- 
tion ;  expert  direction,  and  the  latest  appliances  were 
obtained  from  the  United  States,  and  an  efficient  plant 
for  the  preparation  of  the  leaf  was  installed  in  the  factory. 
The  estate  developed  into  an  experiment  station,  to 
which  was  added  subsequently  a  School  for  Tropical 
Agriculture.  The  two  combined  formed  an  institution 
in  which  the  future  planters  of  the  Transvaal  can  learn, 
from  competent  instructors,  the  best  methods  of  tropical 
and  semi-tropical  culture,  and  see  these  methods  applied 

352 


TOBACCO   PLANTATIONS 

in  the  cultivation  of  the  Government  plantations.  The 
work  thus  begun  under  Lord  Milner's  administration  has 
been  continued  and  expanded  under  Responsible  Govern- 
ment, and  to-day  the  Union  Department  of  Agriculture 
maintains,  in  addition  to  Tzaneen,  experiment  stations 
at  Rustenburg,  Barberton,  and  Pict  Retief.  In  these 
stations  the  experimental  cultivation  of  tobacco  and 
cotton  is  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  the  thirteen 
officers  of  the  Department,  who  are  charged  with  the 
promotion  of  this  branch  of  agriculture.  The  provision 
made  for  the  annual  maintenance  of  the  four  stations  in 
the  estimates  for  the  financial  year  1911-12  was  £4,045, 
while  a  sum  of  £8,000  was  appropriated  out  of  loan  funds 
to  capital  expenditure  in  connection  with  Tzaneen.  In 
addition  to  thus  collecting  the  data  necessary  for  the 
production  of  tobacco  of  fine  quality  on  a  scale  which 
will  permit  the  Transvaal  grower  to  compete  successfully 
in  the  European  market,  the  Government  has  rendered 
direct  assistance  to  the  farmers  growing  tobacco  in  the 
Rustenburg  District  by  erecting  a  large  warehouse  there 
to  which  the  tobacco  crops  can  be  brought  uncured,  and 
by  itself  carrying  out  the  preparation  of  the  leaf,  under 
expert  direction,  in  the  fermenting  rooms  at  Pretoria. 
In  this  way  the  proper  treatment  of  the  leaf  is  secured, 
before  the  crop  is  offered  to  the  manufacturers  in  the 
open  market.  During  the  eight  months  ended  August  31st, 
1911,  the  Union  export  of  tobacco  was  51,509  Ibs.,  of 
the  value  of  £5,097. 

In  Southern  Rhodesia  the  tobacco  crop  is  only  second 
in  importance  to  maize.  In  order  to  assist  the  planters, 
the  Chartered  Company  established  a  central  warehouse 
for  the  Virginia  leaf  at  Salisbury,  and  a  second  warehouse 
for  the  Turkish  leaf  at  Buluwayo.  These  warehouses 
have  been  taken  over  now  by  the  Tobacco  Company  of 
Rhodesia  and  South  Africa,  Ltd.,  and  the  system  under 
which  the  industry  is  worked  is  this  :  The  leaf  is  received 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

by  the  Tobacco  Company  from  the  planters  at  the  ware- 
houses, graded,  placed  in  keeping  condition,  re-packed, 
and  finally  sold  by  auction  at  a  small  charge  calculated 
to  cover  the  cost  of  these  services.  Each  crop  is  valued 
by  the  Company's  Manager  upon  delivery  at  the  ware- 
house. The  planter  can  at  once  obtain  payment  of  a 
sum  equal  to  50  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  crop  as  thus 
ascertained,  and  a  further  advance  of  25  per  cent,  of  the 
estimated  value,  when  the  leaf  is  ready  for  sale.  The 
Tobacco  Company  also  undertakes  to  provide  expert 
advice  in  respect  of  methods  of  cultivation,  and  to  make 
cash  advances  for  the  erection  of  curing  barns  and  packing 
sheds  to  planters  of  approved  standing.  During  the  year 
1911  the  export  of  tobacco  from  Southern  Rhodesia  was 
413,852  Ibs.,  of  the  value  of  £34,810. 

There  is  every  prospect  of  South  Africa  becoming  an 
effective  contributor  to  the  raw  cotton  supply  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  In  Northern  Rhodesia  the  production 
of  cotton  of  high  quality  is  being  actively  developed,  and 
it  is  believed  that  the  crop  will  be  grown  successfully  in 
many  districts  of  Southern  Rhodesia.  In  the  Transvaal, 
cotton  has  been  raised  as  an  occasional  crop  by  the 
farmers  in  the  Zoutpansberg  for  some  years  past,  but  it 
is  only  quite  recently  that  the  Agricultural  Department 
and  the  Railway  Administration  have  been  able  to  open 
the  way  for  the  development  of  the  cotton  areas  of  the 
Province  on  an  adequate  scale.  Now,  however,  experi- 
ments in  planting,  carried  out  at  the  Tzaneen,  Rusten- 
burg,  and  Barberton  stations,  have  shown  that  suitable 
varieties  of  American  cotton  can  be  grown  in  the  Trans- 
vaal to  produce  crops  of  equal  quality  and  superior  yield 
per  acre  as  compared  with  those  obtained  from  the  same 
plants  in  America.  It  has  been  ascertained,  also,  that 
the  area  of  the  province  suited  for  cotton  growing  is 
larger  than  has  been  supposed  hitherto ;  and,  in 
particular,  that  the  Zoutpansberg  district  alone  contains 

354 


COTTON-GROWING 

a  cotton  belt  which  equals  any  other  cotton  area  within 
the  Empire.  As  the  new  railway  running  from  Komati 
Poort  to  Louis  Trichardt  and  Messina  on  the  northern 
border  of  the  province,  now  under  construction,  will 
traverse  this  belt  of  country,  the  future  cotton  planters 
will  have  the  advantage  of  direct  railway  communication 
with  Delagoa  Bay.  As  this  new  railway  is  an  essential 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  industry,  it  may  be 
added  that  the  first  section  of  the  line,  covering  the 
74  miles  from  Komati  Poort  to  Newington  (Selati),  was 
opened  in  May,  1910  ;  and  that  the  second  section,  the 
140£  miles  from  Newington  to  Tzaneen,  is  expected  to 
be  handed  over  by  the  contractors  at  the  close  of  the 
present  year  (1912).  There  is  one  further  consideration 
which  favours  the  prospect  of  the  establishment  of  the 
industry.  The  period  during  which  rain  falls  in  the 
Transvaal  in  normal  years,  namely,  October  to  April,  is 
sufficiently  long  to  permit  of  the  crop  reaching  maturity 
within  it ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  practically  rain- 
less period  of  May  to  September  will  afford  ample  time 
and  opportunity  for  gathering  the  cotton  in  excellent 
condition. 

In  the  returns  of  the  Statistical  Abstract  for  1909,  the 
South  African  export  of  raw  cotton  is  shown  as  being 
84,782  Ibs.,  of  the  value  of  £1,686.  Tobacco  does  not 
appear  in  the  list  of  the  "  principal  articles  "  exported, 
but  the  production  within  the  Union  is  stated  to  be  : 
In  Natal,  2,527,012  Ibs.  ;  in  the  Free  State,  646,260  Ibs.  ; 
and  in  the  Transvaal,  2,891,000  Ibs.  The  latest  avail- 
able figures  of  the  Union  and  Rhodesian  exports,  obtained 
from  the  South  African  returns,  have  been  given  above. 

FRUIT-GROWING 

A  few  words  on  the  subject  of  fruit-growing  will  serve 
to  complete  this  brief  review  of  the  more  distinctive 

355 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

features  of  South  African  agriculture.  In  all  provinces 
of  the  Union  and  in  Southern  Rhodesia  the  cultivation 
of  fruit  as  a  separate  industry  is  being  carried  on  in  an 
increasing  degree.  The  extension  of  railways,  by  bring- 
ing the  producer  into  cheap  and  rapid  communication 
with  the  larger  centres  of  population,  has  made  the  busi- 
ness of  providing  fruit  for  the  local  market  both  more 
important  and  more  lucrative  ;  and  the  export  trade  is 
being  developed  with  success,  especially  where,  as  in  the 
Cape  and  Transvaal  provinces,  the  attention  of  the  grower 
has  been  directed  to  the  production  of  the  Citrus  family 
(oranges,  lemons,  etc.).  In  the  matter  of  supplying  fruit 
to  the  European  markets,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
South  Africa,  like  Australia,  has  the  advantage  of  the 
reversal  of  the  seasons,  and  that  its  summer  produce  can, 
therefore,  reach  Europe  in  the  winter  and  spring  months, 
when,  naturally,  it  is  most  welcome. 

In  Natal  the  distinctive  tropical  fruits,  such  as  man- 
goes, plantains,  guavas,  pineapples,  and  bananas,  are 
raised  in  the  Coast  Belt,  and  the  citrus  fruits,  in  the 
country  inland,  up  to  an  altitude  of  3,000  ft.  above  sea- 
level.  Almost  every  description  of  fruit  can  be  grown 
in  the  Cape  Province ;  but  the  industry  flourishes  most 
in  the  south-western  districts,  and  it  is  here  that  the 
fruit  farms  established  by  Rhodes  are  to  be  found.  In 
the  Transvaal  fruit-growing  has  made  great  advances 
since  the  war.  Apples,  pears,  peaches,  apricots,  and 
nectarines  are  grown  universally,  and  orchards  of  from 
500  to  20,000  trees  are  no  longer  an  uncommon  sight. 
But  it  is  by  the  production  of  citrus  fruit — the  orange, 
lemon,  mandarin,  tangerine,  and  grape — that  the  Trans- 
vaal fruit  farmer  expects  to  win  a  place  in  the  European 
market.  Indeed,  as  a  producer  of  oranges,  the  Trans- 
vaal promises  to  rival  California.  The  soil  and  climate 
of  the  province  are,  in  general,  well  suited  for  the  fruit,  but 
Rustenburg,  lying  between  the  mountain  ranges,  with  its 

356 


THE   STATE   AND   AGRICULTURE 

soil  of  a  deep  chocolate  loam,  and  its  slopes  at  once 
sunlit  and  protected,  seems  destined  by  Nature  to  be  the 
especial  home  of  this  new  and  delightful  industry. 

STATE  AID  TO  AGRICULTURE 

It  remains  to  consider  the  important  question  of  State 
aid.  As  we  have  seen,  the  attention  paid  to  agriculture 
by  the  administration  created  upon  the  close  of  the  war 
by  Lord  Milner  in  the  New  Colonies,  gave  an  impulse  to 
the  development  of  the  agricultural  resources  of  all  the 
four  colonies  now  forming  collectively  the  Union  of 
South  Africa.  In  the  New  Colonies,  owing  mainly  to 
the  success  of  Lord  Milner's  financial  arrangements,  the 
progress  was  most  marked ;  and  it  could  be  said  of  the 
Transvaal,  on  the  eve  of  the  Union,  that  there  was  no 
other  country  in  the  world  in  which  agriculture  received 
a  more  complete  and  generous  assistance  from  the  State. 
As  the  former  Transvaal  Agricultural  Department  has 
been  adopted  virtually  as  the  basis  of  the  Union  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  the  same  may  now  be  said  of  the 
Union  as  a  whole. 

The  relation  of  the  State  to  the  agricultural  and 
pastoral  industries  of  the  Union  will  be  exhibited  most 
clearly  by  considering  (1)  :  What  the  Government  pro- 
poses to  do,  and  (2)  what  at  the  moment  it  is  actually 
doing : 

(1)  The  duty  of  the  Union  Government  in  this  respect 
is  denned  by  the  Commission1  for  the  reorganisation  of 
the  Departments  of  the  Public  Service  in  its  Fourth 
Report,  which  deals  with  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 
In  reviewing  the  assistance  which  South  African  agri- 
culture received  from  the  State  prior  to  the  Union,  the 
Commissioners  point  out  that  three  methods  were  pursued : 
(1)  The  exemption  of  farmers  from  taxation,  and  the 

1  Appointed  under  the  provisions  of  the  Union  Act  (see  p.  157). 

357 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


imposition  of  protective  duties  upon  agricultural  produce. 
(2)  The  method  of  "  doles,"  which,  prior  to  the  late  war, 
"  had  attained  considerable  dimensions  "  ;  since  in  its 
expenditure  the  State  devoted  the  greater  portion  of  the 
money  "  to  the  immediate  relief  of  the  farmers  rather 
than  the  advancement  of  the  agricultural  art."  (3)  State 
aid  on  scientific  lines,  which  was  the  result  of  a  great  out- 
burst of  activity  after  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  Colonial 
Governments  in  the  direction  of  the  development  of 
agriculture.  In  the  case  of  the  Cape  and  Natal,  how- 
ever, this  activity  was  checked  by  commercial  depres- 
sion, and  was  followed  by  a  period  of  reduction  and 
retrenchment. 

At  the  time  of  the  Union  there  were  Agricultural 
Departments  in  all  four  colonies,  and  the  respective 
departmental  votes  for  the  ten  months — July  1st,  1909, 
to  April  30th,  1910— were  as  follows  : 


Out  of 
Revenue. 

Out  of 
Loan 
Funds. 

Total. 

Estimated 
to  be  re- 
coverable 
as  revenue. 

£ 

i 

t 

I 

The  Cape 

215,000 

96,000 

274,000 

27,000 

Natal   

152,000 

105,000 

195,000 

42,000 

Transvaal 

292,000 

60,000 

314,000 

38,000 

Orange  River 

Colony  (Free 

State)       .  .      ... 

76,000 

26,000 

92,000 

9,000 

In  considering  the  form  which  State  aid  to  agriculture 
should  assume  under  the  Union,  the  Commissioners  dis- 
tinguish between  services,  the  performance  of  which  is 
a  recognised  duty  of  a  Central  Government,  and  those 

358 


FUNCTIONS   OF   GOVERNMENT 

which  may  be  delegated  to  local  authorities,  or  left  to 
private  enterprise,  as  the  circumstances  of  a  particular 
State  may  seem  to  require.  The  first  class  comprises 
"  matters  upon  which  uniformity  of  legislation  and  action 
is  essential  for  the  security  and  well-being  of  the 
community  as  a  whole,  such  as  measures  relating  to  diseases 
of  animals  and  plants,  including  locust  destruction,  where 
these  pests  obtain  ;  noxious  weeds  ;  the  adulteration  and 
sale  of  artificial  manures  and  foodstuffs  for  live  stock, 
and  other  articles  required  by  farmers  ;  the  purity  and 
viability  of  seeds ;  brands  ;  the  transport  of  live  stock 
and  agricultural  produce  ;  the  grading  and  marketing  of 
produce ;  the  obtaining  of  markets  abroad  and  the 
supervision  of  exports ;  and  the  preparation  of 
statistics." 

In  respect  of  these  duties,  the  Commissioners  are  of 
opinion  that  it  is  essential  that  they  should  be  retained, 
without  exception,  by  the  Union  Government. 

"  The  second  class,"  they  write,  "  includes  subjects 
such  as  the  application  of  science  to  agriculture  ;  agri- 
cultural education  ;  the  maintenance  of  experimental 
and  stud  farms  and  stations  ;  assistance  to  agricultural 
societies  ;  the  organisation  of  the  farmers'  land  banks, 
land  settlements,  forestry,  game,  and  fisheries ;  and  the 
conservation  of  natural  resources." 

And  they  record  the  opinion  that,  in  the  existing 
circumstances  of  the  Union,  the  functions  mentioned  in 
this  second  class  should  also  be  undertaken  by  the  Central 
Government ;  and  they  add  that  both  classes  of  duties 
should  be  performed  through  the  agency  of  a  single 
Union  Department,  and  not  by  a  central  department 
with  sub-departments  in  the  several  provinces. 

In  the  formation  of  this  single  Department  of  Agri- 
culture out  of  the  four  Departments  of  the  former  Colonial 
Governments,  the  Commissioners  recommended  certain 
changes  of  personnel.  As  the  table  in  which  these  changes 

359 

24— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


are  exhibited  conveys  an  excellent  idea  of  the  scope  of 
the  new  Union  Department,  it  is  reproduced  below  : 


Divisions  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture. 

No.  of 
Officers  up 
to  May 
30/10 

No.  now 
proposed. 

Administration  (Head  Office) 

93 

69 

Veterinary  (a)  Control 

65 

69 

,,          (6)  Research 

45 

39 

Entomology 

24 

20 

Plant  Pathology     .  . 

5 

7 

Botany 

30 

9 

Horticulture 

7 

5 

Chemistry 

17 

7 

Tobacco  and  Cotton 

11 

13 

Co-operation 

5 

5 

Inspection  of  Grain 

13 

6 

Sheep  and  Wool     .  . 

4 

6 

Dairying 

4 

7 

Publications  and  Library 

13 

4 

Brands  and  Fencing 

42 

40 

Guano  Islands 

4 

4 

Viticulture  .  . 

4 

5 

Cold  Storage 

9 

— 

Transport    .  . 
Field  Cornets 

18 
131 

— 

Colleges  and  Experimental  Farms  (ex 

eluding  stockmen,  storemen,  grooms 

and  similar  subordinate  officers) 

72 

95 

Total        . 

616 

417 

With  reference  to  this  table,  it  should  be  stated  that 
the  reduction  of  officers  from  616  to  417  is  more  nominal 
than  real.  It  was  proposed  to  attach  the  131  field 
cornets,  and  some  of  the  18  Natal  transport  employes, 
to  another  department ;  and  the  actual  net  reduction 
was  confined  to  members  of  the  clerical  and  non-pro- 
fessional staff,  and  to  certain  other  officers  whom  the 
consolidation  of  the  four  services  had  rendered  redundant. 
And  in  this  connection  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  Report, 
which  was  published  on  August  3rd,  1911,  bears  the 

360 


THE    UNION    DEPARTMENT 


signature  of  Mr.  F.  B.  Smith,  the  Acting  Secretary  for 
Agriculture  and  permanent  head  of  the  new  department, 
in  addition  to  those  of  the  three  Commissioners. l 

THE  UNION  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 
(2)  In  order  to  learn  what  the  Union  Government  is 
actually  doing  for  agriculture,  we  cannot  do  better  than 
ascertain  the  provision  which  was  made  on  its  behalf  in 
the  Estimates  for  the  first  complete  year  of  the  Union 
(1911-12).  From  the  statements  issued  by  the  Union 
Treasurer,  we  find  that  provision  was  then  made  for  a 
large  expenditure  upon  agriculture,  and  the  agricultural 
interests,  out  of  loan  funds.  The  character  and  purposes 
of  this  capital  expenditure  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
table. 

Capital  expenditure  upon  agriculture  and  allied  interests 
to  be  provided  out  of  loan  funds  : 


Estimated 

Amounts  re- 

In 

After 

quired  to  com- 

Votes. 

Head. 

period 

March 

Total. 

plete  the  works 

1910-12. 

31st,1912 

and  services 

comprised  in 

the  votes.  2 

L 

i 

i 

i 

D 

Agriculture  . 

153,835 

100,149 

253,984 

370,000 

E 

Lands 

188,680 

51,904 

240,584 

660,256 

F 

Irrigation   .  . 

493,579 

1,000 

494,579 

590,742 

H 

Land  Banks. 

568,000 

260,438 

828,438 

1,000,000 

Grand 

Total    .. 

2,620,998 

The  expenditure  under  Vote  D  is  concerned  with  the 

1  Messrs.  H.  C.  Campbell,  A.  Browne,  and  A.  B.  Hofmeyr. 

a  These  amounts  comprise  expenditure  by  Colonial  Govern- 
ments prior  to  the  Union,  as  well  as  that  from  May  31st,  1910, 
onwards. 

361 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

erection  of  vermin-proof  fencing,  and  of  cattle-dipping 
tanks  in  the  Cape  Province,  and  the  provision  of  fencing 
loans,  etc.,  for  the  prevention  of  East  Coast  (cattle)  fever 
in  Natal.  There  is  also  a  provision  of  £20,000  for  loans 
to  creameries  in  the  Free  State  Province. 

The  expenditure  under  Vote  E  is  mainly  devoted  to 
agricultural  development  in  Natal  (£277,656)  and  land 
settlement  in  the  Transvaal  (£337,300). 

The  chief  provisions  under  Vote  F  are  : 

Irrigation  loans  to  farmers  and  public  bodies  (under  £ 

£25.000)  in  the  Cape  Province          287,290 

Kopjes  irrigation  works,  including  purchase  of  land, 

in  the  Free  State          . .          . .  80,000 

Potchefstroom  dam  in  the  Transvaal 24,000 

Pelitzi  project,  Tzaneen  (including  distribu tones  and 

surveys) 8,000 

New  irrigation  works  in  the  Transvaal — 

(a)  Works 15,000 

(6)  Purchase  of  land            . .          . .          . .          . .  120,000 

Under  Vote  H,  £500,000  is  provided  for  the  Natal 
Land  and  Agricultural  Loan  Fund,  and  the  same  amount 
for  a  similar  fund  in  the  Free  State  Province.  In  con- 
nection with  this  vote,  it  should  be  remembered  that  it 
is  to  the  advantage  of  the  community  that  every  encour- 
agement should  be  given  to  the  farmers  to  fence  their 
farms,  since  the  absence  of  fences  largely  increases  the 
difficulty  of  enforcing  the  regulations  necessary  to  check 
the  East  Coast  cattle  fever.  Prior  to  the  Union,  in  all 
four  colonies  fencing  was  made  compulsory  by  law  upon 
the  outbreak  of  the  disease  ;  since,  the  respective  govern- 
ments had  power  to  fence  farms  or  areas  infested,  or 
suspected  of  being  infested,  with  the  disease,  in  the  event 
of  the  owner  failing  to  do  so.  When  this  was  done,  half 
the  expenditure  in  the  case  of  the  Transvaal,  and  the 
whole  of  it  in  the  case  of  Natal,  was  recovered  from  the 
owners,  or  adjacent  owners.  But,  in  order  to  promote 
voluntary  fencing,  funds  were  supplied  on  loan  by  the 

362 


SERVICES   PROVIDED 

Land  Banks  to  the  farmers,  and  in  both  the  Transvaal 
and  Natal  the  necessary  materials  were  supplied  at  cost 
price  by  the  Government. 

The  sums  to  be  expended  out  of  the  revenue  for  the 
year  191 1-12  in  the  interests  of  agriculture  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  vote  for  the  Ministry  so-named,  but  included 
items  in  the  votes  for  the  Ministries  of  Land  and 
Education. 

The  total  sum  provided  for  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture was  £751,284,  of  which  £8,983  was  allocated  to 
the  "  Prime  Minister  and  Minister  of  Agriculture,"  and 
£742,299  to  the  Department.  Among  the  sub-heads  of 
the  vote  the  more  significant,  as  indicating  the  character 
of  the  services  which  the  Department  is  called  upon  to 
perform,  are  the  following  :  £365,310,  nearly  one-half  of 
the  whole  vote,  is  assigned  to  the  Veterinary  Division  ; 
and  out  of  this  sum  £67,000  is  provided  for  giving  com- 
pensation to  the  owners  of  stock  slaughtered  com- 
pulsorily  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  East  Coast  fever. 
For  bacteriological  research  and  the  investigation  of 
disease,  a  sum  of  £30,458  is  provided  ;  and  for  botany 
and  agronomy,  £23,213,  of  which  £5,780  is  allocated  to 
the  destruction  of  noxious  plants  and  weeds.  To 
"  tobacco  and  cotton  "  is  assigned  £12,618  ;  to  the  wool 
industry,  £4,937  ;  to  the  dairy  industry,  £9,010,  of  which 
£4,000  is  for  the  equipment  of  model  dairies  ;  to  viti- 
culture, £9,089,  the  Groot  Constantia  Farm  costing  £1,575, 
and  the  Paarl  Oenological  Institute,  £800,  in  main- 
tenance. The  provision  for  "  Entomology  "  is  £14,837, 
out  of  which  is  £3,000  is  for  locust  destruction,  and  £860 
for  the  suppression  of  fruit  and  plant  pests.  "  Chemistry  " 
receives  £7,514;  "Publications"  (which  includes  the 
most  useful  agricultural  journals,  distributed  gratuit- 
ously), £4,296  ;  "  Co-operation,"  £5,036  ;  and  "  Brands 
and  Fencing,"  £77,901.  The  "Dry  Land  Experiment 
Stations  "  at  Lichtenburg,  Warmbaths,  and  Bloemhof 

363 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

cost  £4,551 ;  cold  stores  and  abattoirs,  £9,419 ;  and  for 
the  "  Inspection  of  Grain  "  £5,169  is  provided.  Lastly, 
we  notice  that  the  net  increase  of  this  vote  for  agriculture, 
as  against  that  of  1910-11,  is  £49,893 ;  that  the  depart- 
mental receipts  are  estimated  to  bring  in  £126,900  ;  and 
that  the  services  rendered  by  the  Department  to  other 
departments  are  valued  at  £21,700. 


IRRIGATION  AND  WATER  SUPPLY 

Large  and  comprehensive  as  is  this  provision  for  the 
Ministry  of  Agriculture,  it  does  not  by  any  means  repre- 
sent the  whole  of  the  annual  expenditure  of  the  Union 
Government  by  which  agriculture  is  especially  benefited. 
The  business  of  the  Ministry  of  Lands  is  to  a  large  extent 
concerned  with  matters  calculated  to  promote  directly 
the  development  of  the  agricultural  and  pastoral  resources 
of  the  country.  Of  the  £279,753,  which  forms  the  total 
vote  for  this  department,  nearly  one-half  (£122,860)  is 
allocated  to  irrigation.  Of  this  sub-vote,  £28,301  is 
required  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Irrigation  Director 
and  his  staff  of  seventy-two  persons  ;  £9,000  is  provided 
for  reconaissance  surveys  and  the  preparation  of  irriga- 
tion projects ;  £9,140  for  the  year's  work  upon  the 
Hydrographic  Survey,  which  is  to  record  the  water 
capacity  of  the  Transvaal ;  and  a  further  sum  of  £1,500 
for  the  securing  of  the  effective  administration  of  the 
Irrigation  Acts  of  the  Cape  and  Transvaal  Provinces. 
But  the  Department  assists  the  farmers  to  obtain 
adequate  water  supplies  by  boring  for  Nature's  under- 
ground reservoirs,  as  well  as  by  the  storage  and  dis- 
tribution of  the  rainfall.  The  provision  for  "  Boring  " 
is  £54,384,  of  which  the  greater  part  is  assigned  to  finding 
water  for  farmers  under  the  regulations  of  the  Depart- 
ment, and  the  balance  to  similar  work  for  other 
Government  departments. 

364 


LOCUST   DESTRUCTION 

STOCK  DISEASES,  LOCUSTS,  ETC. 

The  reader  will  have  noticed  the  largeness  of  the  staff 
of  the  Veterinary  Division  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture— sixty-nine  officers  for  veterinary  "  Control  "  and 
thirty-nine  for  "  Research  "  ;  apart  from  forty  officers 
for  "  Brands  and  Fencing,"  and  some  hundreds  of  field 
cornets  and  other  subordinate  officials  employed  locally 
to  see  that  the  Government  regulations  are  carried  out — 
and  the  ample  provision  made  under  this  head  in  the 
estimates  for  the  year  1911-12.  He  will  have  noticed, 
also,  the  largeness  of  the  sums  assigned  out  of  loan  funds 
to  Land  Banks  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  landowners 
and  farmers  to  fence  their  holdings,  and  how  the  prompt 
destruction  of  infected  cattle  is  facilitated  by  the  pay- 
ment of  compensation  to  the  owners  ;  and  the  regular 
annual  expenditure  upon  the  scientific  investigation  of 
cattle  diseases.  These  facts  and  figures  will  be  sufficient 
to  show  that  the  Union  Government  is  both  taking 
effective  measures  for  the  prevention  of  the  spread  of 
stock  diseases,  and  endeavouring  at  the  same  time  to 
discover  remedies  which  will  enable  the  South  African 
farmer  ultimately  to  eradicate  them. 

The  significance  of  the  vote  of  £5,780  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  noxious  plants  and  weeds,  and  of  £14,857  for 
entomology  (out  of  which  £3,000  is  allocated  to  locust 
destruction,  and  £860  to  the  suppression  of  fruit  and 
plant  pests)  is  not,  however,  quite  so  obvious  ;  since  the 
operations  thus  provided  for  are  unfamiliar.  Indeed,  as 
we  have  had  occasion  to  notice  before,  few  countries 
occupied  by  Europeans  are  subject  to  insect  pests  in  the 
same  degree  as  South  Africa.  The  assistance  which  the 
Union  Government  renders  to  agriculture  in  these  respects 
is,  therefore,  of  great  importance,  and  an  illustration  of 
the  methods  of  the  Department  will  not  be  superfluous. 
A  recent  example  of  the  practical  manner  in  which  the 
farmers  are  aided  in  their  warfare  against  the  worst  of 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

these  insect  plagues — the  locust — is  afforded  by  the 
records  of  the  Agricultural  Department  of  the  (former) 
Orange  River  Colony.  In  the  early  months  of  the  South 
African  summer  of  1909-10  vast  numbers  of  locusts  were 
hatched,  from  the  eggs  deposited  earlier  in  the  year,  both 
in  the  south-west  of  this  colony  and  in  the  neighbouring 
districts  of  the  Cape.  The  laying  of  the  eggs  in  unusual 
profusion  was,  however,  duly  reported  to  the  Depart- 
ment ;  a  large  amount  of  poisonous  material  was  pre- 
pared and  then  distributed  to  the  farmers  for  use  when, 
with  the  earliest  rains,  the  hatchings  were  expected  to 
begin.  At  the  critical  period  the  Agricultural  Inspector 
arrived  upon  the  scene  to  direct  the  operations.  These 
were  so  successful,  that  the  young  locusts  were  destroyed 
wholesale  directly  they  came  out  of  the  ground,  and  only 
a  few  swarms  were  able  to  develop  their  wings  and  escape. 
As  the  result  of  this  prompt  and  effective  action,  a  visita- 
tion of  locusts  which  would  have  caused  widespread 
devastation  to  the  crops  throughout  the  colony,  was 
averted,  and  averted,  too,  at  a  cost  of  less  than  £2,000. 

AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 

Provision  for  institutions  offering  a  special  training  in 
agricultural  pursuits  is  made  in  the  vote  for  the  Ministry 
of  Education,  and  a  sum  of  £95,629  was  allocated  to  the 
sub-head  of  Agricultural  Education  in  the  estimates  for 
1911-12.  As  the  subject  will  be  discussed  as  part  of  the 
educational  system  of  the  Union  as  a  whole,  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  state  here  that  six  Agricultural  Colleges,  or 
Schools,  are  maintained  ;  that  the  sum  of  £4,015  was 
provided  for  Agricultural  Scholarships  ;  and  that  the 
Colleges  are  so  equipped  as  to  be  able  (1)  to  provide  a 
complete  course  of  instruction,  extending  over  two  or 
three  years,  in  the  science  and  art  of  agriculture  to 
persons  intending  to  become  farmers  ;  and  (2)  to  give 
instruction  to  persons  already  engaged  in  farming.  A 

366 


COLLEGES    AND    STUD    FARMS 

recommendation  made  by  the  Reorganisation  Commis- 
sioners in  dealing  with  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
may  be  mentioned  also  in  this  connection.  It  is  that 
these  Agricultural  Colleges  should  be  made  to  serve  as 
centres  for  the  collection  of  information  concerning  the 
localities  in  which  they  are  established.  While  novel 
phenomena  and  matters  of  national  importance  would 
be  referred  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  Department  at 
Pretoria,  questions  of  local  requirements  and  inquiries 
from  agriculturists  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Colleges 
could,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Commissioners,  be  dealt  with 
satisfactorily  and  promptly  by  the  College  professors  and 
instructors.  The  recommendation  is  an  excellent  one, 
and  if  put  into  effect,  it  would  help  to  prevent  the  Union 
Department  of  Agriculture  from  overlooking  the  special 
conditions  and  needs  of  this  or  that  particular  district, 
and  thereby  remove  the  one  valid  objection  to  the  course 
adopted  in  the  creation  of  a  single  department  at  Pretoria 
in  preference  to  a  central  office  with  sub-departments  in 
the  several  provinces. 

STUD  FARMS 

Apart  from  the  Colleges,  a  number  of  institutions  of 
an  eminently  practical  nature  are  included,  somewhat 
incongruously,  in  the  education  vote.  In  particular,  it 
is  here  that  provision  is  made  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Government  stud  farms,  which  enable  farmers  of  moderate 
means  to  obtain  the  best  and  most  suitable  progenitors 
in  the  breeding  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  donkeys. 
For  the  Standerton  Stud  Farm,  established  in  an  upland 
district  of  the  South-east  Transvaal  especially  suited  for 
horse-breeding,  the  sum  of  £5,468  was  provided  in  the 
estimates  of  1911-12 ;  and  from  the  (mainly)  thorough- 
bred stud  maintained  here,  the  farmers  can  secure  horse 
sires  at  moderate  charges  to  run  with  their  mares  for  the 
season.  To  the  Ermelo  Sheep  Stud  Farm  £3,628  was 

367 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

allocated  ;  to  the  Besterspruit  Experiment  Station  and 
Donkey  Stud  Farm,  £1,960 ;  and  to  the  "  Purchase  of 
Pedigree  Stock,"  £5,000.  The  fact  that  both  the 
Standerton  and  Ermelo  Stud  Farms  now  produce  a  con- 
siderable revenue — estimated  in  the  case  of  the  former 
to  be  £2,100,  and  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  £1,000— 
shows  that  the  utility  of  these  institutions  has  begun  to 
be  appreciated. 

FORESTRY 

With  the  exception  of  the  forests  of  the  Knysna  and 
the  Amatola  Mountains  (north  of  King  William's  Town), 
in  the  Cape  Province,  and  the  few  isolated  forest  areas 
in  the  eastern  border  of  the  Transvaal,  there  is  no  in- 
digenous growth  of  forest  trees  in  South  Africa  west  of  the 
Drakenberg.  The  two  forest  areas  of  the  Cape  Pro- 
vince once  formed  part  of  a  belt  of  evergreen  forest, 
which  ran  continuously  along  the  seaward  slopes  of  the 
southern  ranges,  and  thus  united  with  the  existing  forest 
belts  on  the  mountain  slopes  which  fall  to  the  eastern 
coast  in  the  Transkei,  Natal,  and  Zululand.  Elsewhere, 
the  central  plateau  is  furnished  naturally  with  no  other 
woodland  covering  than  the  scanty  scrub  of  thorny  bush, 
or  the  grotesque  Euphorbia.  The  most  useful  of  the 
indigenous  timber  trees  provided  by  these  evergreen 
forests  are  the  yellow-wood  (Podocarpus  elongata  and 
latifolia)  ;  the  black  stinkwood  or  laurelwood  (Ocotea 
buttata)  ;  the  sneezewood  (Ptaroxylon  utile)  ;  the  wagon 
woods  (assegai,  Curtisia  faginea,  and  white  pear,  Apodytes 
dimidiata)  ;  and  the  black  iron  wood  (Olea  lauri folia). 
Although  these  woods  are  hard,  durable,  and  serviceable 
for  furniture-making  and  other  purposes,  the  timber 
produced  by  the  indigenous  forests  is  quite  insufficient 
for  the  needs  of  South  Africa  ;  and  large  quantities  of 
wood— of  the  value  of  over  £1,000,000  in  1911— are 
imported  from  oversea  annually  for  the  building  and 

368 


AFFORESTATION 

other  industries  of  the  country.  Moreover,  such  trees 
are  very  slow-growing  ;  and  the  fact  is  generally  recog- 
nised that  much  better  results  are  to  be  obtained  from 
artificial  afforestation  than  from  the  conservation  of 
the  existing  indigenous  forests.  Experience  has  shown 
that  the  most  suitable  exotic  trees,  if  planted  in  favour- 
able localities,  will  yield  in  twenty  years  as  much  timber 
per  acre  as  the  indigenous  forest  yields  in  two  hundred. 
And  it  is  said,  in  particular,  that  the  plantations  estab- 
lished little  more  than  thirty  years  ago  in  the  Cape  now 
produce  more  revenue  than  all  the  natural  forests  in  the 
province.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  black  wattle  in 
Natal,  and  the  lucrative  results  obtained  from  this 
industry,  afford  another  case  in  point. 

In  these  circumstances  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the 
State  not  so  much  to  preserve  the  existing  forests,  as  to 
provide  the  country  with  new  forest  areas,  planted  with 
exotic  trees  capable  of  producing  the  kinds  of  wood 
especially  required  by  the  various  industries.  In  the 
Cape  Peninsula  the  process  has  been  accomplished.  Here 
the  indigenous  forest  has  been  replaced  long  ago  by  the 
pine,  the  white  poplar,  and  the  oak,  all  of  which  are 
naturalised  and  thrive  excellently.  The  Cape  oak,  in 
particular,  has  twice  the  density  of  foliage  of  the  English 
oak,  and  its  acorn  is  twice  as  large.  The  blue-gum 
(Eucalyptus  globulus),  which  was  introduced  in  1828,  has 
been  planted  here  and  throughout  South  Africa.  The 
pine  woods  of  Parktown,  the  residential  suburb  of 
Johannesburg,  and  the  eucalyptus  woods  of  the  Sachens- 
wald  and  Frankenwald  show  how  rapidly  these  exotic 
trees  will  grow  even  on  the  High  Veld  of  the  Transvaal. 

The  conservation  of  the  forest  areas  of  the  Crown 
lands  by  the  State  was  begun  in  the  Cape  and  Natal 
about  1880 ;  and  it  is  stated  that  there  are  now 
1,200,000  acres  of  such  areas  (of  which  400,000  only  are 
actual  forest)  in  the  former  province,  and  some  30,000 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

acres  in  the  latter.  The  area  of  the  Crown  forest  in  the 
Transvaal  is  said  to  be  30,000  acres  ;  and  in  this  pro- 
vince and  the  Free  State  afforestation  dates  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Crown  Colony  administration.  In  this, 
as  in  all  other  agencies  for  the  development  of  the 
material  resources  of  the  New  Colonies,  Lord  Milner  took 
an  active  personal  interest,  and  tree-planting  was  begun 
even  before  the  war  had  reached  its  close. 


THE  FORESTRY  DEPARTMENT 

For  the  accomplishment  of  the  twofold  purpose  of 
preserving  the  existing  forests,  and  providing  the  country 
with  a  new  and  more  ample  supply  of  timber  and  orna- 
mental trees,  the  Union  is  divided  into  forest  conser- 
vancies, in  each  of  which  nurseries  and  plantations  are 
established.  The  staff  of  the  Forestry  Department  con- 
sists (in  1911)  of  a  chief  conservator,  9  conservators  and 
assistant  conservators,  27  district  forest  officers  and  their 
assistants,  112  foresters  and  assistant  foresters,  15  rangers 
and  forest  guards,  and  38  native  forest  guards — 241 
persons  in  all. 

The  conservancies,  with  the  number  of  the  nurseries 
and  plantations  in  each,  are  as  under  : 


Conservancy 

y 

No.  of  Nurseries, 
etc. 

Cape  Province  — 

Western  .  . 

m 

14 

Midland  .. 

. 

3 

Eastern    .  . 

. 

5 

Transkeian 

. 

3 

Transvaal    .  . 

t 

11 

Free  State  .  . 

. 

7 

Natal 

. 

3 

Cape  Extension 

• 

5 

370 


FORESTRY    DEPARTMENT 

In  addition  to  the  regular  work  of  forest  protection  and 
development  thus  carried  on,  the  Department  makes 
grants  to  public  bodies  and  private  owners  of  land 
engaged  in  tree-planting,  assists  them  with  expert  advice 
and  supplies  young  trees  from  the  various  nurseries  at 
practically  cost  price.  The  Government  also  maintains 
schools  of  forestry,  and  makes  provision  for  the  scientific 
training  of  the  forest  officers  employed  by  the  department. 


371 


CHAPTER  V 

TRADE   AND   COMMERCE 

IN  the  two  preceding  chapters  we  have  seen  what  South 
Africa  produces,  and  the  industries  in  which  the  European 
population  are  chiefly  engaged.  The  sea-borne  trade  of 
the  Union,  which  amounts  in  round  numbers  to  £90,000,000 
in  value,  is  divided  between  exports  and  imports  in  the 
proportion  of  5  to  3,  with  an  increasing  balance,  how- 
ever, in  favour  of  the  former.  Of  the  50,000,000  of 
exports,  more  than  four-fifths  are  the  produce  of  the 
mines,  while  less  than  one-fifth  comes  from  stock-raising 
and  agriculture.  The  imports  are  the  complement  of 
the  exports.  With  practically  no  manufactures  of  her 
own,  the  Union  purchases  manufactured  goods  of  all 
descriptions ;  being  deficient  in  agriculture,  she  imports 
the  articles  of  food  necessary  to  supplement  the  local 
supplies  ;  and  being  actively  engaged  in  the  development 
of  her  natural  resources,  she  buys  railway,  mining  and 
building  materials,  machinery,  tools,  and  utensils,  and 
a  vast  amount  of  miscellaneous  "  plant." 

An  attempt  is  made  in  the  table  on  the  next  page  to 
focus  the  main  features  of  the  Union  oversea  trade. 
It  shows  the  principal  exports  and  imports  of  the  Union 
for  the  year  1911,  with  the  approximate  percentage  of 
each  to  the  totals  ;  while  for  comparison  are  added  the 
Union  totals  for  1910,  and  the  all-South  Africa  totals  for 
1911. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  SEA-BORNE  TRADE 

We  have  now  to  observe  how  this  sea-borne  trade  is 
distributed  between  the  United  Kingdom,  other  British 

372 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

possessions,  and  foreign  countries.  The  exports  are 
taken  almost  entirely  by  the  United  Kingdom,  the  per- 
centages (from  British  South  Africa  as  a  whole  in  1911) 
being  90*9  for  the  United  Kingdom,  3  per  cent,  for  the 
other  British  possessions,  6*8  for  all  foreign  countries, 
and  2  per  cent,  for  articles  shipped  as  stores  or  going 
through  the  post.  In  fact,  apart  from  the  United  King- 
dom, the  only  appreciable  customer  is  Germany,  whose 
purchase  is  3  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Of  the  imports, 
58'3  per  cent,  come  from  the  United  Kingdom,  10*1 
per  cent,  from  elsewhere  within  the  Empire,  and  31*6 
per  cent,  from  foreign  countries.  Among  these  latter, 
Germany  and  the  United  States  are  prominent  with  per- 
centages respectively  of  9*6  and  8*0.  It  may  be  added, 
that  while  in  the  last  five  years  (1906-11)  the  United 
Kingdom  imports  have  gained  slightly,  foreign  imports 
have  also  gained  at  the  expense  of  other  British  posses- 
sions. Germany  is  the  most  strenuous  competitor  ;  and 
the  import  from  this  country  of  the  value  of  three  and 
a  half  millions  sterling  forms  approximately  one-third  of 
South  Africa's  purchase  from  outside  the  Empire,  and 
9*6  of  her  total  imports. 

The  following  tables,  which  are  taken  from  the  Returns 
issued  by  the  Union  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Industries,  will  exhibit  the  movement  of  South  African 
sea-borne  trade  in  greater  detail. 

Return  showing  the  total  value  of  imports  of  mer- 
chandise and  of  exports  of  South  African  produce  into 
and  from  the  various  ports,  and  also  the  total  value  of 
the  imports  and  exports  of  British  South  Africa  during 
the  month  of  August,  1911,  and  the  eight  months  ended 
August  31st,  1911,  as  compared  with  corresponding 
periods  of  1910  : 


374 


MOVEMENT   OF   TRADE 


TRADE  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA  AS  A  WHOLE — IMPORTS 


Month  ended 

Eight  Months 

August  3ist. 

ended  August  sist. 

1911. 

1910. 

1911. 

I9ZO. 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

Vid  Cape  Town           
„    Capetown,  through  Parcel  Post 
„    Port  Elizabeth 

564,368 
43,321 

572,807 
60,813 
709,642 

3,941,847 
409,134 
5,561,104 

3,604,507 
422,293 
4,818,596 

,,    East  London 

326,141 

385,513 

2,424,388 

2,393,142 

„    Mossel  Bay 

51,482 

35,2i6 

311,028 

270,631 

„    other  Cape  Ports  .  . 

3,450 

3,693 

47,876 

47,308 

„    Port  Natal  (Durban) 
„    Delagoa  Bay  (Lorenzo  Marques) 

945,249 
434,836 

842,112 
464,701 

6,886,303 
3,449,795 

6,430,752 

3,957,607 

„    Beira         

120,110 

102,815 

1,024,170 

734,«3 

,,    Feira  (on  the  Zambezi)  and  overland    .  . 

6,055 

398 

9,286 

925 

Total     Vid  British  Ports    .  . 
'     „    Portuguese  Ports 

2,754,455 
551,946 

2,550,464 
567,576 

19,590,966 
4,473,965 

17,988,154 
4,685,700 

Total  Merchandise  :  British  South  Africa  .  . 

3,309,401 

3,117,980 

24,064,931 

22,673,874 

Gold,  Raw,  in  transit    

991 

3,264 

I 

24,152 

Articles  for  South  African  Governments 

183,905 

169,211 

1,288,888 

1,751,458 

Specie 

205  ooo 

21  SQ6 

8os  S78 

Grand  Total  :  British  South  Africa 

3,699,297 

3,312,037 

26,262,070 

26,413,686 

PROPORTION  OF  BRITISH  TO  FOREIGN  MERCHANDISE 
IMPORTED 


Month  ended  August  3ist. 

Eight  Months  ended  August  3ist. 

1911 

1910 

1911 

1910 

£ 

Per 
Cent. 

£ 

Per 
Cent. 

£ 

Per 
Cent. 

£ 

Per 
Cent. 

From  United  Kingdom 
„   other  British 
Possessions 
„    Foreign  Countries 

Total 

1,949,374 

287,058 
1,072,969 

58-9 

8-7 
32-4 

1,953,173 

244,379 
920,428 

62-6 

7-8 
29-6 

14,119,576 

2,392,094 
7,553,261 

58-6 

10-0 
31-4 

13,385,746 

2,475,701 
6,812,427 

59-o 

10-9 
30-1 

3,309,401 

100 

3,«7,98o 

zoo 

24,064,931 

100 

22,673,874 

100 

In  connection  with  the  above  table,  it  may  be  observed, 
that  the  arrangement  made  by  the  Transvaal-Portuguese 
Railway  Agreement  of  February  2nd,  1909,  under  which  50 

375 

25— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


per  cent,  of  the  "  Competitive  Zone  "  traffic,  i.e.,  the  carry- 
ing trade  to  and  from  the  Rand,  was  assigned  to  Delagoa 
Bay,  30  per  cent,  to  Durban,  and  15  to  20  per  cent,  to  the 
Cape  ports,  has  not  proved  effective  in  preventing  the  diver* 
sion  of  this  traffic  from  the  Cape  Ports.  And,  according  to 
the  Union  Railway  Report,  the  process  still  continues, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Cape  through  rates  have 
been  lowered  twice  since  the  Agreement  came  into 
force. 

The  growth  in  the  business  of  the  Cape  ports,  as  shown 
by  the  increases  recorded  in  this  and  the  next  table,  is 
to  be  attributed,  therefore,  solely  to  the  improvement 
in  the  general  trade  of  the  Union  as  a  whole. 

EXPORTS 


Month  ended 

Eight  Months  ended 

August  3ist. 

August  3ist. 

T>       * 

fQT  IS  . 

1911. 

1910. 

1911. 

19x0. 

South  African  Produce: 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

1  Diamonds 
Vid  Cape  Town  \  Gold,  Raw 

900,645 
3,580,911 

626,321 
3,094,262 

5,600,017 
23,977,557 

5,843,204 

(  Other  S.  A.  P. 

111,284 

89,224 

799,212 

660,600 

„    Port  Elizabeth     
,,    East  London 

185,812 
63,578 

273,610 
88,687 

2,070,713 
1,016,656 

2,103,939 
1,161,387 

„    Mossel  Bay            

62,977 

105,478 

733,454 

784,272 

„    other  Cape  Ports  

2,279 

68 

330,600 

164,275 

(  Gold,  Raw 

185,672 

73,253 

727,376 

681,774 

Natal  (Durban)  1      ,,      Concentrates 
I  Other  S.  A.  P. 

192,907 

225,807 

1,831 
1,829,867 

621 
2,027,995 

Delagoa  Bay  :  Lorenzo  Marques 

31,209 

14,329 

253,543 

299,192 

(Gold,  Raw       

16,352 

53»I34 

62,502 

Beira  -I      „      Concentrates 

366 

5,665 

35,445 

46,177 

(OtherS.  A.  P  

23,376 

17,106 

122,186 

97,7i5 

Feira  (on  the  Zambezi)  and  overland 

6,378 

332 

23,627 

1,602 

iw.,1  /  Vid  British  Ports  .  . 
Total  |    ^    Portuguese  Ports       .. 

5,295,443 
54,771 

4,577,o8i 
53,452 

37,110,910 
461,308 

35,465,539 
505,586 

Total  :  South  African  Produce     .  . 

5,350,214 

4,630,533 

37,575,218 

35,971,125 

Imported   Goods  Re-exported: 

Through  the  Parcel  Post 

3,431 

4,885 

33,690 

36,577 

Gold,  Raw  (in  transit) 

991 

3,264 

12,733 

24,152 

In  Bond  and  Duty  Paid 

77,888 

50,705 

658,672 

372,250 

Specie 

12,600 

8,341 

78,279 

97,720 

Grand  Total            

5,445,124 

4,697,728 

38,358,592 

36,501,824 

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CUSTOMS   TARIFF 
SOUTHERN  RHODESIA  (SUMMARY) 


Month  ended 

Eight  Months  ended 

Augus 

:  31st. 

Augus 

t  31st. 

1911. 

1910. 

1911. 

1910. 

Imports  — 

I 

i 

i 

I 

(including  Specie  and 
Government) 

254,523 

258,487 

1,968,920 

1,648,008 

Exports  — 

Diamonds 

— 

210 

— 

1,382 

Gold  

286,316 

283,239 

1,665,783 

1,706,047 

Other  S.  A.  Produce  . 

18,999 

33,626 

217,808 

187,125 

Total 

327,853 

357,028 

2,040,298 

2,047,511 

FISCAL  POLICY 

That  England  should  have  been  able  to  hold  her  own 
in  the  South  African  market,  in  spite  of  the  keen  com- 
petition of  her  two  great  industrial  rivals — Germany  and 
the  United  States — is  due  very  materially  to  the  pre- 
ferential treatment  accorded  to  her  goods  in  the  South 
African  Customs  Tariff. 

The  foundation  of  the  present  fiscal  system  of  the 
Union  was  laid  at  the  Customs  Conference  held  at  Bloenv 
fontein,  in  March,  1903,  under  the  presidency  of  Lord 
Milner.  The  main  principles  embodied  in  the  Customs 
Convention  of  that  year  were  based  upon  a  frank  recogni- 
tion of  the  economic  conditions  of  South  Africa  as  a 
whole  ;  and,  as  such,  they  are  not  likely  to  be  abandoned, 
in  any  material  respect,  in  the  immediate  future.  They 
were: 

1.  The  free  admission  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  including 
foodstuffs,   except  in  cases  where  free  admission   was 
found  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  due  encouragement  of 
South  African  industries. 

2.  The  moderate  taxation,  or  free  admission,  of  building 
materials,   agricultural  implements,   machinery,   mining 
plant,  and  generally  of  all  articles  necessary  either  for 

379 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

the  development  of  the  industrial  resources  of  the  country, 
or  for  providing  the  various  communities  with  the  full 
equipment  of  civilisation. 

3.  The  maintenance  of  the  revenual  efficiency  of  the 
tariff  by  the  imposition  of  heavy  duties  on  luxuries, 
intoxicants,  and  narcotics,  and  on  articles  ministering 
mainly  or  exclusively  to  the  convenience  or  pleasure  of 
the  wealthier  classes. 

4.  The  grant  of  preferential  treatment  to  articles  pro- 
duced within  the  British  Empire.     In  the  case  of  articles 
being   "the   growth,   produce,    or   manufacture   of  the 
United   Kingdom,"   where  such  articles  were  classified 
under  an  ad  valorem  rate,  they  were  accorded  a  rebate 
of  25  per  cent,  of  such  ad  valorem  duty  ;    and  where 
they  were  subject  only  to  a  2£  per  cent,  ad  valorem 
duty,  the  whole  duty  was  remitted.     And  similar  rebates 
were  accorded  to  the  goods  of  any  other  country  within 
the  Empire,   provided,   however,   that   the   country  so 
favoured    granted    equivalent    reciprocal    privileges    to 
South  Africa. 

Upon  the  eve  of  the  establishment  of  the  Union,  the 
four  Colonial  Governments  gave  notice  to  the  other 
parties  to  the  Customs  Convention — Rhodesia,  Basuto- 
land,  and  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate — of  their  inten- 
tion to  retire  from  the  Convention  on  June  30th,  1910. 
The  Union  Government  thereupon  entered  into  fresh 
Customs  agreements — cast,  however,  on  the  same  lines  as 
the  expiring  Convention — with  Rhodesia  and  with  the 
High  Commissioner  on  behalf  of  the  Native  Territories 
not  included  in  the  Union  ;  and  thus  the  essential  features 
of  the  Customs  Convention  of  1903  have  been  maintained. 
For  trade  purposes,  therefore,  the  Union,  Rhodesia,  and 
the  Native  Territories  constitute  a  single  system. 

The  principles  upon  which  this  single  system,  com- 
prising British  South  Africa  as  a  whole,  has  based  its 
common  Custom  tariff  have  been  set  out  above  ;  but  the 

380 


FISCAL    RELATIONS 

fiscal  relations  established  by  these  new  agreements  also 
claim  consideration.  All  domestic  goods  and  produce, 
with  the  exception  of  spirits  and  beers,  pass  duty  free  to 
and  from  the  Union,  Rhodesia,  and  the  Native  Terri- 
tories ;  and  customs  levied  upon  external  goods  in 
transit  are  rebated.  In  the  case  of  goods  imported  from 
outside  British  South  Africa  into  the  Union,  but  in 
transit  for  Rhodesia,  the  Union  Government  collects  the 
duties  leviable  under  the  common  tariff  and  pays  them 
over,  less  5  per  cent,  for  cost  of  collection,  to  the 
Rhodesian  Government ;  and,  in  the  converse  case,  the 
Rhodesian  Government  collects  and  pays  over  the  duties 
to  the  Union  Government.  Also,  in  the  case  of  domestic 
(South  African)  manufactures  containing  imported 
materials  to  an  appreciable  extent,  the  duties  collected 
on  the  imported  materials  are  paid  over  similarly  by  the 
government  in  whose  territory  the  manufactures  are 
made  to  the  government  of  the  territory  into  which  the 
manufactures  are  imported.  The  same  arrangements 
obtain  as  between  the  Union  Government  and  the 
governments  of  the  Native  Territories  with  one  excep- 
tion. In  the  collection  and  payment  of  Customs  duties 
upon  imports  and  imported  materials  destined  for  the 
Native  Territories,  the  method  laid  down  in  the  schedule l 
to  the  South  Africa  Act  is  adopted.  The  Section  runs  : 

There  shall  be  paid  into  the  Treasury  of  the  Union  all  duties 
of  Customs  levied  on  dutiable  articles  imported  into  and  con- 
sumed in  the  Territories,  and  there  shall  be  paid  out  of  the 
Treasury  annually,  towards  the  cost  of  administration  of  each 
territory,  a  sum  in  respect  of  such  duties  which  shall  bear  to  the 
total  Customs  revenue  of  the  Union  in  respect  of  each  financial 
year  the  same  proportion  as  the  average  amount  of  the  Customs 
revenue  of  such  territory,  for  the  three  completed  financial  years 
last  preceding  the  taking  effect  of  this  Act,  bore  to  the  average 
amount  of  the  whole  Customs  revenue  for  all  the  colonies  and 
territories  included  in  the  Union  received  during  the  same  period. 

1  This  schedule  sets  out  the  terms  upon  which  the  Territories 
may  be  admitted  to  the  Union. 

381 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  proportions  of  the  annual  Customs  revenue  of  the 
Union  respectively  due  on  this  basis  are  paid  quarterly 
to  the  several  administrations  of  the  three  Native 
Territories. 

One  other  point  is  worthy  of  note,  as  indicating  the 
partial  admission  of  Portuguese  East  Africa  to  the  com- 
mercial system  of  British  South  Africa.  The  arrange- 
ment made  by  Lord  Milner  in  the  modus  vivendi  of  1901, 
and  modified  in  1904,  under  which  the  Transvaal  admitted 
the  products  and  genuine  manufactures  of  Mozambique, 
with  the  exception  of  spirits,  duty  free,  was  maintained 
in  the  Transvaal-Mozambique  Agreement  of  February  2nd, 
1909 ;  and,  since  this  latter  agreement  is  binding  upon 
the  Union,  these  Mozambique  products  continue  to  enter 
the  Transvaal  Province  duty  free.  Such  products,  how- 
ever, upon  removal  from  the  Transvaal  to  another  pro- 
vince of  the  Union,  or  to  Rhodesia  or  the  Native  Terri- 
tories, become  subject  to  the  duties  leviable  upon  external 
imports  of  the  like  description  under  the  Customs  tariff. 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  COMMERCE  AND  INDUSTRIES 

The  Union  Department  of  Commerce  and  Industries 
was  formed  out  of  the  Customs  and  Excise  services  of 
the  four  colonies,  together  with  the  staff  of  the  Statistical 
Bureau  created  in  August,  1905,  for  the  common  benefit 
of  the  States  constituting  the  former  Customs  Union  of 
South  Africa.  In  the  Estimates  for  1911-12,  provision 
is  made  for  490  Customs  officers  under  the  Commissioner 
of  Customs  and  Excise,  and  for  72  Excise  officers  under 
the  Controller  of  Excise.  As  the  number  of  the  Customs 
officers  employed  by  the  four  Colonial  Governments  on 
May  30th,  1910,  was  523,  the  Union  staff  shows  an 
appreciable  reduction  in  this  service  ;  but  practically  no 
change,  except  a  slight  rearrangement  of  the  staff,  was 
made  in  the  case  of  the  Excise  officers,  since  it  was  only 

382 


BANKS 

in  the  Cape  province  that  any  considerable  establishment 
for  Excise  purposes  had  been  maintained. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  this 
province  there  is  a  considerable  production  both  of  spirits 
and  beer.  In  1909,  1,205,326  proof  gallons  of  spirits  was 
produced  from  the  produce  of  the  grape,  and  44  gallons 
from  materials  other  than  produce  of  the  grape  ;  and 
the  revenue  collected  thereon  amounted  to  £185,252  and 
£7  respectively.  In  the  same  year,  2,606,647  gallons  of 
Colonial  beer  were  produced,  in  respect  of  which  the 
revenue  was  £23,949.  It  may  be  added  that  the  number 
of  pot  stills  in  the  Cape  Colony  was  estimated  in  the 
same  year  to  be  3,550.  There  were  thirty-five  distillers 
who  used  stills  other  than  pot  stills,  only  one  of  whom 
distilled  from  materials  other  than  the  produce  of  the 
grape.  In  respect  of  the  manufacture  of  beer,  there 
were  eight  firms  of  brewers  in  the  Cape  Colony  :  three  at 
Capetown,  and  one  each  at  Port  Elizabeth,  Queenstown, 
East  London,  Oudtshoorn,  and  Kimberley. 

Apart  from  the  collection  of  Customs  and  Excise,  the 
work  of  the  Department  would  seem  for  the  present  to 
be  confined  to  the  preparation  and  issue  of  the  trade 
returns  and  other  statistics  of  the  Union.  Here,  again, 
the  establishment  of  the  Union  made  little  difference  to 
the  staff  of  the  Statistical  Bureau,  since  these  officials 
were  either  transferred  to  the  "  Statistical  Branch  "  of 
the  Union  Department,  or  otherwise  absorbed  by  the 
head  office. 

BANKS  AND  BANKING  FACILITIES 

The  Union  and  British  South  Africa  as  a  whole  are 
well  supplied  with  banking  facilities.  Apart  from  the 
great  joint-stock  banks  by  which  the  traders,  merchants, 
and  large  industrial  undertakings  are  served,  the  system 
of  land  banks,  established,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  interests 
of  farmers  and  landowners,  is  being  extended  by  the 

383 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Union  Government,  and  the  number  of  Post  Office 
savings  banks  is  being  rapidly  augmented  in  response  to 
the  increasing  requirements  of  the  small  depositor.  In 
respect  of  the  joint-stock  banks,  the  maintenance  of  due 
reserves  in  cash  and  securities,  and  the  frequent  publica- 
tion of  statements  showing  the  financial  position  of  each 
bank  and  the  character  of  its  business,  are  required  by 
law  ;  and  in  these  and  other  respects  the  interests  of  the 
depositors  and  of  the  general  public  are  protected  by 
enactments  regulating  the  conditions  under  which  the 
transactions  of  banks  and  banking  firms  must  be  con- 
ducted. The  largest  of  these  institutions,  the  Standard 
Bank  of  South  Africa,  Ltd.,  has  branches  in  every  con- 
siderable town  in  the  Union  and  in  South  Africa  ;  and 
at  Maseru,  in  Basutoland ;  Blantyre,  in  Nyassaland  ; 
Delagoa  Bay  and  Beira,  in  Mozambique ;  and  at 
Mombasa,  Nairobi,  and  Zanzibar,  in  British  East 
Africa. 

The  table  on  the  next  page,  which  is  taken  from  the 
Statistical  Register  of  the  Cape  Province,  will  exhibit 
sufficiently  the  general  character  of  the  South  African 
banks.  It  shows,  as  regards  the  several  joint-stock  banks 
transacting  business  in  the  Cape  Colony  on  December  31st, 
1909,  the  amount  of  authorised,  subscribed,  and  paid-up 
capital  and  reserve  fund ;  the  number,  nominal  value, 
and  amount  paid  up  per  share  ;  together  with  the  rate 
per  cent,  of  the  last  dividend  declared  and  the  number 
of  branches. 

THE  POST  OFFICE  SAVINGS  BANK 

The  character  and  objects  of  the  Government  land 
banks  have  been  indicated  in  the  account  of  the  assist- 
ance rendered  by  the  State  to  agriculture,  which  has 
been  laid  before  the  reader  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
It  will  not  be  necessary,  therefore,  to  refer  now  to  these 

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THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


useful  institutions,  but  a  few  figures  exhibiting  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank  will  not  be  super- 
fluous. The  Report  of  the  Union  Postmaster-General 
for  the  year  1910  records  a  great  expansion  in  the  busi- 
ness of  the  savings  bank  ;  and  the  fact  is  worthy  of 
notice,  since  a  rise  or  fall  in  the  savings  bank  deposits  is 
recognised  as  affording  an  excellent  measure  of  the 
prosperity  or  the  reverse  of  the  general  mass  of  any 
European  community.  According  to  the  report,  then, 
the  number  of  accounts  open  in  the  Post  Office  Savings 
Bank  of  the  Union  on  December  31st,  1910,  had  increased 
during  the  preceding  twelve  months  by  20,399,  or  at  the 
rate  of  19-36  per  cent. ;  and  the  amount  standing  to  the 
credit  of  depositors  in  ordinary  accounts  had  risen  by 
£724,921,  or  14-73  per  cent.  During  the  same  period 
the  percentage  of  the  accounts  withdrawn  was  only  2*66, 
representing  4*09  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  of  the  sums 
deposited.  On  June  30th,  1910,  there  were  644  savings 
bank  offices  open  in  the  Union. 

The  progress  of  the  bank,  and  the  volume  of  the  work 
which  it  transacts,  is  shown  in  the  subjoined  table : 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  POST  OFFICE  SAVINGS  BANK  in 
1908-10 : 


1910. 

1909. 

1908. 

1 

1 

Deposits  :    Number  .  .          .  J      433,395 

363,086 

353,751 

Amount  >. 

£3,708,918 

£3,162,525 

£3,222,809 

Withdrawals  :    Number       .  . 

182,555 

177,830 

187,447 

,,              Amount 

£2,983,996 

£2,866,815 

£3,390,162 

Accounts  remaining  open     .  . 

218,617 

198,218 

187,363 

Certificates  :   Issued 

£284,300 

£236,600 

£174,100 

Paid     .. 

£145,500 

£125,600 

£150,400 

Balance  due  to  Depositors  : 

In  Ordinary  Accounts,  in- 

cluding Interest.  . 

£5,202,599 

£4,477,678 

£4,237,511 

In  Certificate  Accounts     .  . 

£851,300 

£712,500 

£601,500 

386 


DUTCH    MEASURES 


CURRENCY  AND  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES 

English  money  is  used  throughout  British  South  Africa. 
Owing,  however,  to  the  lower  purchasing  power  of  the 
sovereign — a  subject  to  be  discussed  subsequently  in 
connection  with  the  cost  of  living — copper  coins  are  rarely 
used,  except  in  the  coastal  districts.  In  the  Transvaal, 
in  particular,  for  shopping  purposes,  the  threepenny  bit 
will  be  found  to  be  the  ordinary  equivalent  of  the  penny 
piece  in  England.  For  the  convenience  of  travellers  and 
others,  letters  of  credit  and  drafts  are  granted  by  the 
banks  on  their  branches  and  agencies,  and  circular  letters 
of  credit  can  be  obtained. 

While  weight  is  measured  commonly  by  the  English 
standards,  for  land  areas  and  bulk  the  use  of  the  Dutch 
measures  is  more  general. 

In  the  accompanying  list  of  special  weights  and 
measures  employed  in  South  Africa,  the  English 
equivalents  are  given  : 


Weight 
Area.  etc. 


— Short  Ton 
— Long     ,, 
—Cape  Foot 
—    „     Rood 
— Morgen 
—Hectare 


=  2,000  Ibs.  Avoirdupois. 

=  2,240     „ 

=    1-033  English  feet. 

=  12-396 

=    2- 116  Acres. 

=    2-471 


Bulk  (Liquid)         — Leaguer 

— Pipe 

— Aum 

— Anker 

— Dutch  Gallon 


—302-38  Morgen  =  1  sq.  Mile  (English). 


(Dry) 


— Muid 


Diamond  Measure — Carat 

—120  Carat 


=  152  Dutch  Gallons  = 
128  Imperial  Gallons. 
==  110  Dutch  Gallons 
=    28      „ 
=      9*   „ 
=  -7895  of  an  English 

gallon. 
=  3  bushels  =  12  pecks= 

24  gallons  =  96  qrts. 
=ss  4  grains  Troy. 
=  1  ounce 


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PART   V 

POLITICAL    AND    SOCIAL 
CONDITIONS 


CHAPTER  I 

FINANCE   AND   TAXATION 

IN  discussing  the  financial  position  of  the  Union,  and  the 
taxation  imposed  by  the  Government  to  meet  the  cost 
of  administration,  the  conditions  which  differentiate 
South  Africa  from  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  other 
oversea  dominions  must  be  recalled  once  more. 

The  Union,  then,  has  a  composite  population,  partly 
European  and  partly  native  or  coloured  ;  and  the  latter 
element  outnumbers  the  former  in  the  proportion  of 
nearly  four  to  one.  In  the  census  of  May  7th,  1911,  the 
European  population  was  returned  as  being  1,278,025, 
and  the  non-European  population  as  being  4,680,474, 
making  together  a  total  population  of  5,958,499.  While, 
moreover,  the  native  or  non-European  population  had 
increased  since  1904  at  the  rate  of  15*31  per  cent.,  the 
European  rate  of  increase  for  the  same  period  was  only 
14*44.  Both  the  composite  nature  of  the  Union  popula- 
tion, and  the  relative  smallness  of  its  European  element, 
are  facts  which  must  modify  appreciably  any  conclusions 
based  upon  the  mere  figures  of  the  financial  returns  of 
the  Union  ;  or  on  these  figures  as  compared  with  the 
corresponding  figures  for  the  United  Kingdom  or  for  any 
one  of  the  other  three  dominions.  In  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  Canada,  for  all  practical  purposes,  there 
are  solid  European  populations ;  and,  of  course,  this  is 
the  case  in  the  United  Kingdom.  In  any  statement, 

389 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

therefore,  made  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  how  the 
Union  stands  in  respect  of  indebtedness,  taxation,  or  trade 
per  head  relatively  to  these  other  members  of  the  Empire, 
neither  the  number  of  the  European  population  alone 
nor  that  of  the  total  population  afford  a  valid  basis  of 
comparison.  Indeed,  as  nearly  all  the  purely  manual 
labour  of  the  Union  is  done  by  the  natives  and  coloured 
people,  the  million  and  a  quarter  of  European  population, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  taxpaying,  find  a  counterpart 
in  the  few  millions  of  income  tax-paying  population  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  rather  than  in  the  45,000,000  of 
its  total  population.  Still  less  can  the  European  popula- 
tion of  the  Union,  taken  alone,  be  placed  on  the  same 
footing  as  the  total  populations  of  the  other  oversea 
dominions ;  since  these  latter,  in  all  cases,  comprise  the 
numerically  predominant  classes  of  a  community  from 
which  the  manual  labourers  are  drawn. 

There  is  a  second  condition,  and  one  of  a  different 
order,  to  be  noticed,  if  it  is  desired  to  realise  the  actual, 
as  against  the  nominal,  value  of  the  financial  figures  of 
the  Union.  This  condition  is  the  high  cost  of  living  to 
Europeans ;  or,  to  put  it  in  another  way,  the  fact  that 
the  sovereign  has  less  purchasing  power  in  South  Africa 
than  it  has  in  England  or  in  any  of  the  other  oversea 
dominions.  The  Union  cost  of  administration,  there- 
fore, expressed  in  pounds  sterling  appears,  when  exhibited 
in  comparison  with  that  of  other  States,  to  be  larger 
than  it  really  is,  since  an  expenditure  of  £100  in  the 
Union  is  equivalent  to  an  expenditure  of  (say)  £75  in 
England  or  in  the  other  dominions.  A  rough  measure 
of  the  degree  in  which  the  Union  figures  are  swollen  by 
this  circumstance  is  afforded  by  a  comparison  of  the 
salaries  received  by  the  respective  Prime  Ministers  of 
the  four  dominions.  While  the  heads  of  the  Govern- 
ments in  Canada,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand  are  paid 
respectively  £2,500,  £2,100,  and  £1,600  per  annum,  the 


FINANCIAL   FIGURES 

salary  of  General  Louis  Botha,  the  first  Prime  Minister 
of  the  Union,  was  fixed  at  £4,000.  The  explanation  of 
the  difference  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  sought  in  the 
assumption  that  the  work  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  the 
Union  is  to  be  more  arduous  and  responsible  than  that 
of,  say,  the  Prime  Minister  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
but  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  this  and  other  official 
salaries  in  the  Union,  as  expressed  in  pounds  sterling, 
are  higher  than  similar  salaries  in  the  other  three 
dominions,  where  the  purchasing  power  of  the  sovereign 
is  greater.1 

According  to  the  statements  issued  by  the  Union 
Treasurer  in  1911,  the  amount  of  the  Public  Debt  for 
which  the  Union  Government  became  responsible  on 
May  31st,  1910,  was  £116,502,628  6s.  lid.  ;  and  for  the 
financial  year  ending  March  31st,  1912,  the  revenue  was 
estimated  to  be  £16,052,000,  and  the  expenditure 
£16,890,281.  At  the  same  time,  a  further  expenditure 
from  loan  funds,  estimated  to  be  £12,017,105,  was  required 
to  carry  out  new  works  and  services  approved  by  the 
Government ;  and  of  this  sum,  £7,453,829  18s.  9d.  was 
provided  by  loan  funds  in  hand  or  authorised  to  be 
borrowed,  while  £4,563,275  Is.  3d.  remained  to  be  raised 
by  a  new  loan. 

Subject  to  the  modifying  conditions  noticed  above, 
the  following  statement  will  afford  a  rough  measure  of 
the  significance  of  these  figures. 

Table  showing  the  population,  and  total  and  per  head 
revenue,  expenditure,  debt,  and  sea-borne  trade  of  the 
United  Kingdom  and  the  dominions.  The  figures  are 
approximate  only,  and  are  based  on  the  latest  available 
statistics  in  the  case  of  each  State  : 

1  In  England  the  Prime  Minister  receives  ^5,000  as  First  Lord 
of  the  Treasury,  and  an  official  residence.  The  Prime  Minister 
of  the  Union  also  has  Groote  Schuur,  bequeathed  by  Rhodes  to  be 
the  official  residence  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  South  Africa,  when 
union  should  be  accomplished. 

391 

26— (2139) 


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ESTIMATED    EXPENDITURE 


THE  UNION  DEBT 

The  particulars  of  the  respective  debts  of  the  four 
colonies  at  the  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  Union 
are  contained  in  the  statement  on  page  394,  which  was 
issued  by  the  Union  Treasurer  in  1911. 

And,  in  a  second  statement  (shown  on  pp.  395-6),  the 
allocation  of  the  Public  Debt  assumed  by  the  Union 
Government,  as  it  existed  on  May  30th,  1910,  is  there 
set  out. 

Of  the  expenditure  out  of  loan  funds  thus  appro- 
priated, the  Union  Treasurer,  as  the  result  of  a  further 
analysis,  states  that  £80,211,786  9s.  6d.  has  been 
reproductive  and  £30,290,841  17s.  5d.  non-reproductive. 
And  of  the  reproductive  expenditure,  he  assigns 
£75,234,694  Os.  2d.  to  "  Railways  and  Harbours,"  and 
£4,977,092  9s.  4d.  to  "  Other  Services." 

The  purposes  for  which  the  further  expenditure  of 
some  £12,000,000,  already  incurred  by  the  Union 
Government,  is  required  are  shown  in  the  subjoined 
statement. 

ESTIMATED  EXPENDITURE,  to  meet  which  Loan  Funds 
are  required : 


Vote. 

Estimated 
Expendi- 
ture in 
1910-12. 
6. 

Estimated 
Expendi- 
ture after 
Mar.  31st, 
1912. 
7. 

Total 
Estimated 
Expendi- 
ture. 
8. 

A  .  Railways  and  Harbours 
B.  Public  Works  and  Buildings   . 
C.  Telegraphs  and  Telephones     . 
D.  Agriculture 
E.  Lands 
F.  Irrigation 
G.  Local  Works  and  School  Loans 
H.  Land  Banks        

£2,015,731 
1,307,754 
548,661 
153,835 
188,680 
493,579 
103,120 
568,000 

£5,217,868 
695,047 
251,399 
100,149 
51,904 
1,000 
60,000 
260,438 

/7,233,599 
2,002,801 
800,000 
253,984 
240,584 
494,579 
163,120 
828,438 

Totals  

5,379,360 

6,637,745 

12,017,105 

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ALLOCATION    OF  PUBLIC  DEBT 


PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE  CAPE,  NATAL,  THE  TRANSVAAL,  AND  THE  ORANGE 
RIVER  COLONY,  showing  existing  debt  and  interest  thereon  at  May 
30th,  1910,  allocated  to  works  and  services  : 


Service. 

Colony. 

Existing  Debt. 

Interest. 

A  .  Railways     .  . 

B.  Harbours     .  . 

C.  Posts  and 
Telegraphs 

D.  Public  Works 
and  Build- 
ings .  . 

E.  Agriculture  .  . 

F.  Local  Works 
Loans 

G.  School  Loans 

H.  Acquisition  of 
New  Terri- 
tory and  Li- 
abilities of 
Territories 
annexed  .  . 

/.   Immigration 

Cape    ..      .. 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Cape    ..      .. 
Natal  .  . 

Cape    ..      .. 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Cape    ..      .. 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Cape    .  . 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Cape    .  . 
Cape    ..      .. 

Cape    .  . 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 

Cape    .  . 
Natal  .  . 

I                 5.     d. 

30,884,252  12     5 
14,178,154     4     6 
15,618,447  16     0 
4,991,118     9  11 

i                5.     d. 

1,132,932  13     5 
497,740  17     0 
468,553     8     8 
151,527     3     1 

65,671,973     2  10 

2,250,754     2     2 

5,967,275   11      1 
3,595,445     6     3 

215,721   18     1 
122,039     7     5 

9,562,720  17     4 

337,761     5     6 

489,740  18     0 
367,795   15     8 
319,671   14     3 
30,353     1     9 

18,294     7     1 
12,409  19     4 
9,590     3     0 
910  11    10 

1,207,561     9     8 

41,205     1     3 

925,155  17     5 
1,289,313  18     9 
1,263,963  16     2 
516,974  17     1 

35,226  10     1 
43,431   11     7 
37,918  18     4 
15,716  17     8 

3,995,408     9     5 

132,293  17     8 

1,127,082     7     0 
368,061   10  10 
1,611,235     4     2 
1,327,816     1     3 

38,908  12  10 
13,184  19     7 
48,337     1     1 
40,150     0     1 

4,434,195     3     3 

140,580  13     7 

565,950  15     6 

19,026     5     9 

818,377  17     8 

28,023  16     0 

266,657     0     0 
752,134     9     6 
2,529,911     0     0 

10,809     5     7 
26,585     7     7 
75,897     6     7 

3,548,702     9     6 

113,291    19     9 

172,510     5     0 
163,874     5     1 

7,153  16  11 
6,865  19     4 

336,384   10     1 

14,019  16     3 

395 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


Service. 

Colony. 

Existing  Debt. 

Interest. 

K.  War  and 
Defence     .  . 

L.   Deficiency 
in  Revenue 

M.  Public 
Stores 

N.  Land  and 
Agricultural 
Loan  Fund 

0.   Repatriation 
P.  Balances      .  . 

Cape    ..      .. 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 

Cape    ..      .. 
Transvaal  .  . 

Cape    ..      .. 
Natal  .  . 

Natal  .  . 

Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Cape    .  . 
Natal  .  . 
Transvaal  .  . 
O.  R.  Colony 

Totals  .  . 

I          s.    d. 
7,409,428  13     6 
1,170,774   11     0 
1,579,174  13     0 

£          s.    d. 
279,544  11     1 
46,688  12     0 
47,375     4     9 

10,159,377  17     6 

373,608     7  10 

3,922,608     2  10 
547,883     5     3 

135,579     1    10 
16,436  10     0 

4,470,491     8     1 

152,015  11   10 

2,001     5     2 
100,000     0     0 

70     0  10 
4,000     0     0 

102,001     5     2 

4,070     0  10 

157,578     3     5 

2,112,692     9     6 
25,000     0     0 

5,515     4     8 

63,380  15     6 
875     0     0 

2,295,270  12  11 

69,771     0     2 

5,305,100  14     0 
1,279,413     3     1 

159,153     0     5 
38,382     7   11 

6,584,513  17     1 

197,535     8     4 

14,992  19     6 
543,461   16  10 
1,429,510  19     6 
761,732  15     1 

472  18     3 
19,095  14   10 
42,885     6     7 
26,660     4     6 

2,749,698  10  11 

89,114     4     2 

£116,502,628     6  11 

£3,963,071   11     1 

Of  this  debt,  £114,986,977  11     0     is  in  respect  of  Stock,  Debentures, 

and  Treasury  Bills  ; 
I          5.     d. 
1,050,000     0     0     was  advanced  by  Banks  pending  the 

raising  of  Loans ; 
465,650  15  11     is  represented  by  advances  made  by 

the  Public  Debt  Commissioners  of 

£116,502,628     6  II1      Natal. 

1  Union  of  South  Africa.     StatemenJ;  of  Public  Debt  of  the 
Cape,  etc.,  at  the  date  of  entering  the  Union. 

396 


ACTUAL    INDEBTEDNESS 

Of  this  total  estimated  expenditure  of  £12,017,105, 
loan  funds  in  hand  on  May  30th,  1910  (£2,923,080  13s.  2d.) 
and  authorised  to  be  borrowed  (£4,530,749  5s.  7d.)  would 
provide  £7,453,829  18s.  9d.,  leaving  £4,563,275  Is.  3d.  as 
the  additional  sum  to  be  borrowed. 

The  most  noteworthy  items  included  under  the  head 
of  "  Public  Works  and  Buildings  "  in  the  above  state- 
ment may  be  mentioned.  The  new  Union  Government 
buildings  at  Pretoria  are  estimated  to  cost  £1,130,000 ; 
and  of  this  sum  £43,148,  provided  out  of  revenue  by  the 
late  Transvaal  Government,  was  spent  prior  to  May  30th, 
1910 ;  £535,000  was  to  be  spent  by  March  31st,  1912 ; 
and  £531,852  after  this  date.  In  addition  to  this  great 
building,  the  capital  is  to  be  further  enriched  with  a 
post  office,  and  a  museum  and  public  library,  at  a 
respective  cost  of  £112,000  and  £90,000.  At  Capetown, 
the  seat  of  the  Legislature,  a  sum  of  £101,000  is  to  be 
expended  on  additions  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament  and 
£187,895  on  law  courts.  Johannesburg  and  Durban  are 
also  to  be  provided  with  law  courts,  the  former  at  a  cost 
of  £135,000  and  the  latter  at  a  cost  of  £90,000. 

The  statements  on  pp.  398  and  399,  issued  by  the 
Controller  and  Auditor-General  of  the  Union,  show 
respectively  the  cash  balances  of  the  constituent  colonies 
at  the  date  of  the  Union,  and  the  position  of  the  Union 
debt  at  March  31st,  1911. 

ACTUAL  v.  NOMINAL  INDEBTEDNESS 

With  the  assistance  of  these  statements,  it  is  possible 
to  distinguish  between  the  actual  and  nominal  indebted- 
ness of  the  Union.  As  the  railways  showed  on  the  earn- 
ings for  the  year  1910  a  net  profit,  after  payment  of 
interest  on  capital  expenditure,  renewals,  and  all  working 
expenses,  of  £3,339,583,  it  is  not  very  likely  that  the  tax- 
payers of  the  Union  will  be  called  upon  to  meet  the 
interest  and  other  annual  charges  due  upon  the  £80,000,000 

397 


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THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

of  reproductive  expenditure,  which  constituted  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  original  debt.  Of  the  £12,000,000 
further  expenditure  from  loan  funds  already  incurred, 
some  part — e.g.,  the  votes  for  "  Railways  and 
Harbours"  and  "Telegraphs  and  Telephones"— 
will  be  reproductive.  Assuming,  however,  the 
whole  of  it  to  be  non-reproductive,  and  to  be 
added,  therefore,  to  the  £30,000,000  of  original  non- 
reproductive  expenditure,  the  resultant  total  of  such 
expenditure  is,  in  round  numbers,  £42,000,000.  The 
actual,  as  distinguished  from  the  nominal,  Public  Debt 
of  the  Union  may  be  considered,  therefore,  to  be 
approximately  £40,000,000. 

The  statements  of  revenue  and  expenditure  which  now 
claim  our  attention  will  enable  us  to  make  the  same  dis- 
tinction between  the  nominal  and  actual  sum  to  be 
provided  by  the  taxpayers  of  the  Union  for  the  annual 
service  of  the  debt.  As  we  have  seen  from  the  above 
statements,  the  annual  interest  on  the  original  £116,500,000 
of  debt  amounts  to  some  £4,000,000.  The  actual  sum 
to  be  met  out  of  the  revenue  for  the  financial  year  1911- 
12  in  respect  of  the  debt  is  to  be  found  by  deducting  the 
sum  of  £2,806,000,  appearing  as  interest  due  to  the 
Union  Government  in  the  revenue  account,  from  the 
sum  of  £4,560,326,  which  is  shown  in  the  expenditure 
account l  as  the  interest,  etc.,  payable  on  the  Public  Debt. 
That  is  to  say,  while  the  annual  liability  imposed  by  the 
Public  Debt  upon  the  people  of  the  Union  amounts 
nominally  to  £4,500,000  (in  round  numbers),  its  actual 
amount  is  only  £1,750,000.  Before  leaving  this  aspect 
of  the  financial  position  of  the  Union,  one  other  point 
may  be  noticed.  The  distinction  between  nominal  and 
actual  indebtedness  can  be  recognised  the  more  easily 
in  the  case  of  the  Union,  owing  to  the  circumstance  that 

1  See  forward  for  Revenue  and  Expenditure  Statements  at 
pp.  402  and  410. 

400 


THE    UNION    REVENUE 

under  the  Constitution  the  railways  and  harbours,  the 
works  in  respect  of  which  the  bulk  of  the  reproductive 
loan  expenditure  has  been  incurred,  are  administered 
separately,  and  on  the  lines  of  an  ordinary  commercial 
undertaking,  by  the  Railway  and  Harbour  Board. 

THE  UNION  REVENUE 

At  the  time  of  writing,  the  Financial  Relations  Com- 
mission, duly  appointed  under  the  Constitution  Act  to 
determine  what  sources  of  revenue  should  be  assigned 
respectively  to  the  Union  Government  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  the  Provincial  Administrations  on  the  other, 
has  presented  its  report ;  and  it  only  remains  for  the 
Union  Parliament  to  pass  the  necessary  legislation  to 
give  effect  to  its  recommendations.  The  nature  of  the 
proposals  of  the  Majority  Report,  and  the  extent  to 
which  they  were  modified  by  the  Union  Government, 
have  been  stated  before. l 

The  finance  of  the  Union  is,  therefore,  at  the  moment, 
in  a  transitional  stage  ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  remind 
the  reader  that  from  the  financial  year  1912-13  onwards 
the  sources  of  revenue  now  to  be  surrendered  to  the  Pro- 
vincial Administrations  will  disappear  from  the  Union 
Estimates  ;  while  the  Union  expenditure  will  be  lessened 
by  (roughly)  one-half  of  the  £3,309,418  voted  under  the 
head  of  "Provincial  Administrations"  in  1911-12.  It 
must  also  be  remembered  that  the  large  contribution 
from  the  Railway  and  Harbour  Fund,  which  the  Union 
Treasurer  now  receives,  is  only  a  temporary  source  of 
revenue  to  be  withdrawn,  under  the  Constitution  Act, 
in  1914. 

The  revenue  which  appears  in  the  estimates  of  1911-12 
is,  therefore,  the  combined  revenue  of  the  Central  and 
Provincial  Administrations ;  and  the  subjoined  state- 
ment of  this  revenue,  showing,  as  it  does,  the  sources 

1  Part  II,  Chap.  Ill,  p.  159. 

401 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


from  which  it  is  derived,  presents  a  comprehensive  and 
convenient  account  of  the  revenual  resources  and  taxation 
of  the  Union  as  a  whole. 

ESTIMATE  OF  THE  REVENUE  FOR  YEAR  ENDING 
MARCH  31sT,  1912 

^16,052,000 
STATEMENT  SHOWING  SOURCES  FROM  WHICH  REVENUE  is  DERIVABLE 


Income 

Fines, 
•p__ 

Head  of  Revenue. 

Taxation. 

Services 
rendered. 

from 
Public 

For- 
feitures, 
Interest, 

Total. 

Estate. 

etc. 

£ 

£ 

£ 

i 

£ 

Customs 

4,300,000 

i,  600 

400 

4,302,000 

Excise       .                      . 

2Q^  OOO 

__ 

___ 

295,000 

Posts,  Telegraphs,  &  Telephones 

•*;O|WW 

1,385,000 

— 

— 

1,385,000 

Mining 

i  s68  ooo 

675  ooo 

2  241  OOO 

Licences  and  Taxes  on  Trades 

AfjvUjWw 

*,*^j,wvw 

and  Vocations 

483,000 







483,000 

Other  Licences     

58,000 

_ 

__ 



58,000 

Stamp  Duties  and  Fees  .  . 
Transfers  of  Property  and  Suc- 

380,000 

150,000 

— 

— 

530,000 

cessions 

506,000 

__ 

_ 

_ 

506,OOO 

Personal  (Poll)  Tax,  Natal 

100,000 

— 

— 

— 

100,000 

Native  Taxes 

742,000 

_ 

_ 

_ 

742,000 

Pass  Fees  (Native) 

355,000 



— 

— 

355,000 

Land  Revenue  (Quit  Rents) 
Rents  of  Government  Property  . 
Sales  of  Government  Property    . 

- 

160,000 

89,000 

100,000 

— 

160,000 
89,000 
100,000 

Interest 



__ 



2,806,000 

2,806,000 

Departmental  Receipts  .  . 

— 

312,000 

200,000 

— 

512,000 

Fines  and  Forfeitures     .  . 

— 

— 

147,000 

147,000 

Miscellaneous 

I,  OOO 

— 

79,000 

80,000 

8,788,000 

1,848,600 

1,303,000 

2,953,400 

14,893,000 

Contribution  from  Railway  and 

Harbour  Fund 

— 

— 

— 

— 

1,159,000 

Total     

— 

— 

— 

-     £ 

16,052,000 

As  against  the  receipts  for  the  preceding  year  (1910-11), 
the  estimated  returns  from  the  various  sources  of  revenue 
show  slight  normal  increases  in  most  cases  ;  but  the  yield 
from  mining  taxation,  as  estimated  here  under  the  New 
Union  Law,  gives  an  increase  of  nearly  £500,000.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  yield  from  the  income  tax  in  the  Cape 
Province  (£218,000  in  1910-11)  has  disappeared,  since 
this  tax  was  abolished  concurrently  with  the  imposition 
of  a  profits  tax  on  mines  throughout  the  Union  ;  and  the 

402 


SOURCES    OF    REVENUE 

contribution  required  from  the  Railways  and  Harbours 
Fund  has  decreased  by  £61,000. 

The  distinction  between  revenue  and  taxation,  and  the 
character  of  the  several  sources  of  revenue,  are,  in  general, 
sufficiently  indicated  in  the  statement ;  but  the  particulars 
of  certain  heads  of  revenue,  given  below,  will  be  found 
none  the  less  useful. 

DETAILS  OF  HEADS  AND  ITEMS  OF  REVENUE 

Posts,  Telegraphs,  and  Telephones  :  £ 

Posts 917,000 

Telegraphs 313,000 

Telephones ..          ..         155,000 

I  1,385,000 

Mining  : 

Government  Ownership  Revenue 

Diamond  Mines1 202,500 

Gold               „           .. 170,000 

Other             , 11,000 

Licences  and  Mynpacht  Dues        ..          ..          ..  291,500 

Taxes  on  Mining — 

Diamond  Mines 445,000 

Gold               „           1,075,000 

Other                                     48,000 


2,243,000 


Licences  and  Taxes  on  Trades  and  Vocations  : 

Licences— General 250,000 

Liquor  Licences            177,000 

Bank  Note  Duty          13,000 

Companies'  Capital  Duty 20,000 

Auction  Dues 8,000 

Taxes  on  Totalisators                                     . .          . .  15,000 


i     483,000 

1  Includes  the  Government's  six-tenths  share  in  the  profits  of 
the  Premier  Mine. 

403 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Other  Licences  : 

Arms,  Game,  Dog  Licences,  etc. 
Stamp  Duties  and  Fees  : 

Stamps  on  Documents 

Cigarette  Stamps 1 


Primary  Education  and  Hospital  Fees,  etc. 
Province  of  Cape 

Natal 

,,  Transvaal 

,,  Orange  Free  State 


I 
58,000 


455,000 
75,000 

530,000 


Sales  of  Government  Property  : 

Land 62,000 

Other  Assets 38,000 

£      100,000 

Interest : 

Railways  Loan  Capital          2,196,474 

Harbours      ,,           „               357,929 

Miscellaneous 251,597 

£  2,806,000 

Departmental  Receipts  : 

Agriculture 126,900 

Public  Health 5,770 

Asylums             16,500 

Printing  and  Stationery        .. 47,500 

Agricultural  Education  and  Farms             . .          . .  57,600 

Forestry             14,000 

Irrigation          15,500 

Etc.,  etc [to 

Balance] 


1,250 
25,150 
27,280 
19,450 


£   512,000s 


1  This  is  really  an  excise  levied  on  cigarettes  produced  within 
the  Union  or  in  Rhodesia,  equivalent  to  the  surtax  on  imported 
cigarettes. 

a  Estimates  of  Revenue,  etc.,  second  and  final  print,  Capetown, 
1911. 

404 


ACTUAL   TAXATION 

TAXATION 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  admirably  presented  state- 
ment of  the  Union  Treasurer  that  only  a  part  of  the 
revenue— in  round  numbers,  £9,000,000  out  of  £16,000,000, 
or  little  more  than  one-half — is  derived  from  taxation, 
the  remainder  being  the  yield  of  services  rendered  by  the 
State  and  of  various  forms  of  State  property  and  rights. 
But  this  separation  of  taxation  from  revenue  does  not  by 
itself  put  us  in  possession  of  the  amount  of  actual  taxa- 
tion which  is  paid  respectively  by  the  European  popula- 
tion and  the  native  or  coloured  populations  of  the  Union  ; 
nor  does  it  reveal  the  contribution  of  the  non-South 
African  shareholders  in  the  mines. 

ACTUAL  v.  NOMINAL  TAXATION 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  taxation  borne  by 
the  European  population,  the  railway  taxation  must  be 
added,  the  native  taxation  must  be  withdrawn,  and 
considerable  reductions  must  be  made  under  other  heads. 

According  to  the  Railway  Report  for  1910  the  net 
profits  for  the  year  were  £3,339,583 ;  but  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  certain  reductions  of  rates  had  been  made,  and 
certain  others  were  in  contemplation,  at  the  date  of  the 
report,  the  amount  to  be  added  on  account  of  railway 
taxation  may  be  put  at  £3,000,000.  Of  this  sum,  pro- 
bably £2,750,000  would  come  out  of  the  pockets  of  the 
European  population,  while  £250,000  would  be  paid 
ultimately  by  the  natives. 

It  is  difficult  to  assign  the  precise  amount  of  the  native 
contribution  to  the  taxation  of  the  Union.  The  native 
taxation  is  shown  in  the  statement  under  the  two  heads 
of  native  taxes,  £742,000,  and  pass  fees  (native),  £355,000, 
making  a  total  of  £1,097,000  ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  pass  fees  fall  ultimately  upon  the  native  or  upon  the 
European  employer.  On  the  other  hand,  the  native 

405 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

contributes  under  other  heads  of  direct  taxation  (e.g., 
licences).  On  the  whole,  perhaps,  £1,000,000  may  be 
withdrawn  as  the  native  contribution  to  the  direct 
taxation  of  the  Union. 

The  heads  of  taxation  from  which  deductions  must  be 
made  are  :  Customs  (£4,300,000),  Excise  (£295,000),  and 
mining  (£1,568,000).  As  a  purchaser  of  certain  classes 
of  imported  goods,  the  native  makes  a  small  but  appreci- 
able contribution  to  the  Customs  revenue ;  and  he  also 
helps  to  swell  the  Excise  returns.  A  deduction  of,  say, 
£250,000  may  be  made,  therefore,  from  the  amounts 
shown  under  these  two  heads. 

The  deduction  to  be  made  from  the  mining  taxation  is 
one  which  affects  beneficially  the  European  and  native 
populations  both  alike.  As  a  large  number  of  the  share- 
holders in  the  gold,  diamond,  and  other  mines  are  per- 
sons resident  in  England  or  elsewhere  outside  the  Union, 
and  as  the  mining  tax  is  merely  a  levy  of  10  per  cent, 
on  the  profits  of  the  various  undertakings,  an  amount  of 
this  tax  proportionate  to  their  holdings  falls  upon  these 
external  shareholders,  and  not  upon  the  people  of  the 
Union.  In  the  absence  of  any  statements  distinguishing 
the  respective  holdings  of  Union  and  non-Union  share- 
holders, it  is  impossible  to  say  what  this  amount  may  be  ; 
but  assuming  that  one-half  of  the  share  capital  of  the 
mining  companies  is  held  by  persons  resident  outside  the 
Union,  then  £750,000  must  be  deducted  under  this  head. 

Summarising  these  adjustments,  we  have  the  following 
figures  as  a  basis  for  computing  the  actual  taxation  paid 
by  the  European  population  of  the  Union  under  present 
conditions : 

Taxation  Revenue,  as  shown  in  1911-12  £ 

Estimates ... .          . .  8,788,000 

Add  for   Railway   Taxation,    less   Native 

proportion..         2,750,000 

Total  Nominal  Taxation £11,538,000 

406 


NATIVE  TAXATION 

Deduct  for — 

Native  (Direct)  Taxes £1,000,000 

Native  proportion  of  Customs  and  Excise       250,000 
Mining    Taxation    paid    by    non-Union 

Shareholders     . . 750,000 


Total          2,000,000 


Total  actual  Taxation  of  European  Population . .         £  9,538,000 

Putting  the  European  population  at  1,250,000  (in 
round  numbers)  and  the  actual  taxation  borne  by  it  at 
£9,500,000,  the  Union  taxation  per  head  of  European 
population  will  be  £J  12s.  It  remains  to  notice  that  of 
this  £9,500,000,  more  than  two-thirds  (the  yield  of  the 
Customs,  Excise,  and  Railway  Taxation),  is  raised  by 
indirect  taxation,  while  of  the  direct  taxation  a  consider- 
able proportion  (e.g.,  the  stamp  duties,  and  transfers  of 
property  and  successions)  falls  almost  exclusively  upon 
the  property-owning  section  of  the  community.  It  must 
be  remembered,  moreover,  that  the  Constitution  provides 
for  the  entire  abolition  of  railway  taxation  within  four 
years  from  the  date  of  the  Union.  We  may  conclude, 
therefore,  that  the  European  population  of  the  Union, 
although  the  main  burden  of  taxation  necessarily  falls 
on  them  and  not  on  the  native  population,  are 
none  the  less  as  well  situated  in  this  respect  as  their 
fellow-citizens  in  the  other  oversea  dominions. 

NATIVE  TAXATION 

On  the  same  basis  of  calculation  the  native  and  coloured 
population  pays  £1,500,000  of  actual  taxation,  as  against 
the  £9,500,000  borne  by  the  European  population ; 
but  in  this  case  the  greater  portion  is  raised  by 
direct  taxation.  The  full  and  interesting  statement 
of  the  total  contribution  of  the  natives  to  the  State, 
so  far  as  it  is  distinguished  in  the  official  returns,  both 
central  and  local,  published  in  the  Union  Blue  Book  on 
Native  Affairs  for  1910,  is  here  reproduced. 

407 

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THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


EXPENDITURE 

The  General  Abstract  of  the  estimated  expenditure  of 
the  Union  Government  for  the  year  1911-12,  which  is 
printed  below,  will  serve  a  twofold  purpose.  It  not  only 
sets  out  the  various  services  to  which  the  revenue  is 
appropriated,  but  it  exhibits  the  entire  framework  of  the 
Union  administration  in  a  convenient  form. 

ESTIMATE  OF  THE  EXPENDITURE  FOR  THE  YEAR  ENDING 
MARCH  31sT,  1912 

£16,890,281 
GENERAL  ABSTRACT 


Vote. 

Estimates 
1911-12. 

Total. 

The  Governor-General  and  Parliament  : 
H.E.  the  Governor-General 
Senate     
House  of  Assembly 
Joint  Parliamentary  Expenses 

Prime  Minister  and  Minister  of  Agri- 
culture : 
Prime  Minister 
Agriculture         .  . 

Minister  of  the  Interior,  Minister  of 
Defence,  and  Minister  of  Mines  : 
Interior 
Public  Health     
Asylums 
Printing  and  Stationery 
Defence 
Mines 

Minister  of  Justice  : 
Justice 
Superior  Courts  
Magistrates 
Masters  of  the  Supreme  Court 

i 

23,776 
21,365 
54,415 
7,967 

£ 

107,523 
751,284 

1,447,769 

8,983 
742,299 

229,141 
109,292 
263,492 
187,239 
440,699 
217,906 

61,417 
184,358 
434,879 
26,079 

410 


HEADS   OF    EXPENDITURE 


Vote. 

Estimates 
1911-12. 

Total. 

Minister  of  Justice  (continued)  : 
Police       
Prisons  and  Reformatories 

Minister  of  Education  : 
Higher  Education 
Agricultural  Education 
Forestry 

Minister  of  Finance  : 
Finance   
Inland  Revenue 
Audit       
High  Commissioner  in  London 
Public  Debt        
Pensions 
Provincial  Administrations 
Compensation  to  Colonial  Capitals 
Miscellaneous 

Minister  of  Lands  : 
Lands 
Irrigation 
Deeds  Offices      
Surveyors  General 

Minister  of  Native  Affairs  : 
Native  Affairs 

Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industries  : 
Commerce  and  Industries 
Customs  and  Excise 

Minister  of  Public  Works,  and  Minister 
of  Posts  and  Telegraphs  : 
Public  Work  Department 
Buildings,  Bridges,  and  Roads 
Post,  Telegraphs,  and  Telephones 

Total        

£ 

1,324,510 
512,250 

i 
2,543,493 

327,094 

8,550,621 

279,753 
292,323 

168,712 
2,421,709 

109,520 
95,629 
121,945 

47,015 
36,084 
60,779 
28,228 
4,560,326 
419,300 
3,309,418 
40,682 
48,789 

59,766 
122,860 
27,992 
69,135 

292,323 

11,413 
157,299 

463,558 
472,846 
1,485,305 

16,890,281 

411 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  total  estimated  expenditure  of  £16,890,281  for 
1911-12  shows  a  net  increase  of  £34,178,  as  against  the 
estimated  expenditure  for  the  previous  year  (i.e.,  the 
actual  expenditure  for  the  ten  months — May  31st,  1910, 
to  March  31st,  1911 — plus  one-fifth  of  this  expenditure 
as  being  the  equivalent  of  the  two  months  omitted). 

Among  the  heads  of  expenditure  set  out  in  the  Abstract, 
two  only  demand  attention.  The  provision  for  the 
annual  service  of  the  Public  Debt,  in  the  vote  for  the 
Ministry  of  Finance,  is  a  nominal  figure,  since,  as  already 
noticed,  the  £2,806,000 brought  into  account  as  "interest" 
in  the  revenue  statement,  must  be  set  against  the 
£4,560,326  shown  here,  making  the  charge  actually  to  be 
provided  for  (in  round  numbers)  £1,750,000.  And  in 
this  connection  it  may  be  observed  that  the  Debt  assumed 
by  the  Union  Government  has  been  borrowed,  as  a  whole, 
on  favourable  terms.  The  largest  single  item,  the 
£40,000,000  joint  loan  of  the  Transvaal  and  Orange 
River  Colonies,  owing  to  the  Imperial  guarantee,  bears 
interest  at  3  per  cent.  ;  some  £27,000,000  have  been 
borrowed  at  3J-  per  cent.,  £22,522,000  at  4  per  cent.,  and 
the  balance  at  slightly  higher  rates.  The  fact  that  the 
provision  of  £3,309,418  for  the  Provincial  Administra- 
tions, which  appears  in  the  same  vote,  will  be 
largely  reduced  in  subsequent  years,  has  been  noticed 
above. 

It  may  be  added,  in  conclusion,  that  the  Union 
expenditure  for  the  financial  year  1912-13,  as  shown  in 
the  estimates  introduced  in  the  House  of  Assembly  on 
January  29th,  1912,  amounted  to  £16,782,343,  being  a 
decrease  of  some  £100,000  as  against  the  estimates  for 
191 1-12.  An  additional  £100,000  was  provided  under  the 
head  of  "  Defence,"  in  view  of  the  proposed  legislation 
for  the  creation  of  a  citizen  army;1  and  the  Education 

1  The  net  annual  increase  on  this  head  was  subsequently  (May 
6th,  1912)  estimated  at  £500,000.  See  forward  at  447. 

412 


SERVICE   OF   THE   DEBT 

Vote  was  swollen  by  £145,000  to  permit  of  the  extension 
of  elementary  education.  On  the  other  hand,  mainly 
through  the  termination  of  the  recent  extraordinary 
expenditure  for  eradicating  the  East  Coast  cattle  fever, 
the  vote  for  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  showed  a 
reduction  of  some  £250,000. 

NOTE. — The  resignation  of  Mr.  Hull,  the  first  Finance 
Minister  of  the  Union,  was  announced  by  General  Botha 
in  the  House  of  Assembly  on  May  21st,  1912. 


413 


CHAPTER  II 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  AND   MUNICIPAL  DEVELOPMENT 

THE  fact  that  under  the  Constitution  Act  the  Pro- 
vincial Councils  are  charged  with  the  supervision  and 
control  of  the  machinery  of  local  government  has  been 
noticed  before.1  But  it  will  be  convenient  to  recall 
here,  that  the  sixth  of  the  thirteen  "  classes  of  subjects  " 
in  respect  of  which  the  councils  are  empowered  to  make 
ordinances  is  "  Municipal  institutions,  divisional  councils, 
and  other  local  institutions  of  a  similar  nature  "  (§  85). 
And  in  respect  of  these  "  classes  of  subjects,"  the 
Executive  Committees  of  the  Provinces  have  the  "  powers, 
authorities,  and  functions "  which  pertained  to  the 
respective  Governments  of  the  four  colonies  prior  to 
the  date  of  the  Union.  There  will  be  no  break,  there- 
fore, in  the  continuity  of  the  development  of  local 
government.  Each  of  the  varying  systems  established 
prior  to  the  Union  will  be  free  to  advance  under  the 
Union  on  its  own  lines,  since  the  authority  in  whose 
control  it  is  placed  is  identical  in  character  with  that  by 
which  it  was  created. 

The  provision  is  a  wise  one  ;  for,  while  the  urban 
centres  of  population  throughout  the  Union  may  be 
said  to  have  reached  an  equal  plane  of  political  and 
social  development,  there  is  a  considerable  disparity  in 
these  respects  between  the  rural  populations,  both 
European  and  coloured,  of  the  several  provinces.  In 
the  Cape  Province,  for  example,  which  is  almost  two 

1  Part  II,  Chap.  II  :  "  The  Provincial  Administrations," 
p.  150. 

414 


THE   TRANSVAAL   SYSTEM 

centuries  older  than  any  of  her  sisters,  and  where, 
naturally,  the  greatest  progress  had  been  made  in  the 
work  of  educating  and  civilising  the  coloured  races,  local 
government  institutions  had  been  introduced  even 
among  the  native  population.  On  the  other  hand, 
although  in  the  Transvaal  local  government  has  not  been 
extended  so  fully  to  the  rural  European  population  as 
it  has  been  in  the  Cape,  and  has  not,  of  course,  been 
introduced  at  all  among  the  natives,  none  the  less  the 
Transvaal  system,  which  was  an  entirely  original  crea- 
tion of  the  Crown  Colony  Administration  under  Lord 
Milner,  is  more  highly  developed  and  efficient  than  that 
of  the  older  province.  And  the  Orange  River  Colony, 
now  the  Free  State  province,  was  endowed  also  with  the 
same  system,  differently  applied,  however,  in  accordance 
with  the  differing  needs  and  conditions  of  its  more  settled 
but  predominantly  agricultural  population.  Subject  to 
these  and  the  like  variations,  the  general  framework  of 
local  government  is  practically  the  same  in  all  four  pro- 
vinces :  The  municipality  for  the  towns  ;  the  divisional 
council,  or  its  equivalent,  for  country  districts  ;  and  the 
village  council,  or  sanitary  board,  for  growing,  but  still 
rural,  centres  of  population. 

The  excellence  of  the  Transvaal  system  of  local  govern- 
ment is  to  be  attributed  to  the  circumstance  that  the 
legislation  under  which  it  was  established  was  made  by 
men  actually  engaged  at  the  time,  and  on  the  spot,  in 
the  working  of  municipal  machinery.  Nominated  town 
councils  were  set  up  by  Lord  Milner  in  Pretoria,  Bloem- 
fontein,  and  Johannesburg  while  the  war  was  still  in 
progress,  and  upon  the  cessation  of  hostilities  other 
councils  and  sanitary  boards  were  added.  The  nomi- 
nated Town  Council  of  Johannesburg  (May  8th,  1901 — 
December  9th,  1903),  the  most  important  of  these  tran- 
sitional authorities,  included  not  a  few  of  the  leading 
men  of  a  singularly  competent  industrial  community 

415 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

among  its  members,  and  some  of  their  number  applied 
themselves  to  the  study  of  municipal  institutions  under 
the  guidance  and  inspiration  of  the  first  Town  Clerk, 
Mr.  Lionel  Curtis,  who  was  himself  endowed  with  a 
natural  genius  for  administration.  British  legislation 
was,  of  course,  examined  and  largely  followed,  but  a 
close  study  was  made  also  of  the  recorded  experience  of 
such  municipal  models  as  Birmingham  and  Glasgow,  and 
full  weight  was  given  to  local  needs  and  conditions. 
Although  the  Johannesburg  Town  Council  called  the 
lesser  local  authorities  to  take  counsel  with  it  in  a 
Municipal  Conference  held  at  Johannesburg  in  June, 
1903,  this  body,  under  the  direction  and  oversight  of 
Mr.  Curtis  (who  now  held  the  post  of  Assistant  Colonial 
Secretary  for  Local  Government  in  the  Transvaal 
Administration),  became  the  authors,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  of  the  Municipal  Government  Ordinances 
passed  by  the  Legislative  Council  of  the  colony  in  1903 
and  1904,  and  of  the  system  of  local  government  thus 
established  and  afterwards  perfected  by  subsequent 
legislation. l 

In  1904-5  the  Municipal  Government  Ordinances  were 
applied  throughout  the  colony,  and  before  the  Crown 
Colony  Administration  terminated,  thirty-seven  munici- 
palities had  been  established.  Further  legislation  pro- 
vided for  the  introduction  of  Sanitary  Committees  in 
districts  where  the  conditions,  being  semi-urban,  made 
sanitary  measures  and  regulations  necessary  for  the 
comfort  or  safety  of  the  inhabitants ;  and  six  of  these 
committees  were  established. 

In  thus  applying  the  system  of  municipal  government 

1  Upon  the  establishment  of  the  elective  Town  Council  (in 
December,  1903),  all  the  members  of  the  nominated  Council  who 
came  forward  as  candidates  were  elected  by  popular  vote,  with 
one  exception.  This  exception,  oddly  enough,  was  a  member 
of  the  nominated  Council  appointed  by  Lord  Milner  to  represent 
the  working  men  of  the  Rand. 

416 


QUALIFICATIONS    OF    ELECTORS 

to  the  towns  of  the  Transvaal  as  a  whole,  it  was  found 
that  whereas  some  old  but  comparatively  unimportant 
towns  were  well  endowed  with  town  lands,  no  similar 
provision  had  been  made  by  the  late  Government  in  the 
case  of  Johannesburg  and  other  populous  but  recently- 
founded  industrial  centres.  In  these  circumstances,  the 
necessity  for  determining  what  proportion  of  the  national 
estate  and  revenues  could  be  properly  assigned  to  the 
various  localities  in  need  of  endowments  was  recognised 
on  all  hands.  In  1904,  therefore,  a  Commission  was 
appointed  by  the  Crown  Colony  Administration  to 
inquire  into,  and  report  upon,  the  subject  of  the  financial 
relations  of  the  Central  Government  with  the  munici- 
palities or  other  local  government  authorities.  The 
question  was  eminently  one  in  respect  of  which  it  was 
desirable  that  whatever  was  done  should  command  the 
general  approval  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony ;  and 
action  was  deferred  accordingly  until  the  advent  of 
Responsible  Government.  Before,  however,  the  Trans- 
vaal was  merged  into  the  Union,  most  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Commission  were  put  into  effect  by 
General  Botha's  ministry ;  and,  in  particular,  sub- 
stantial justice  was  done  to  Johannesburg  by  the  grant 
to  the  municipality  of  so  much  of  the  public  land  lying 
within  its  area  as  was  not  required  for  any  immediate 
purposes  of  the  Central  Government. 

The  qualifications  of  municipal  electors  are  the  owner- 
ship of  rateable  property  assessed  at  £100  ;  or  the  occupa- 
tion of  rateable  property  assessed  at  £300,  or  of  premises 
of  the  gross  annual  rental  of  £24.  But  aliens,  coloured 
persons,  and  natives  are  excluded  from  the  municipal 
franchise.  The  councillors  are  elected  by  ballot ;  and 
in  this  and  other  respects  the  customary  English  pro- 
cedure is  generally  followed,  with,  however,  the  notable 
exception  that  in  the  Municipalities  of  Pretoria  and 
Johannesburg  the  principle  of  proportional  representation 

417 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

is  in  operation.  The  system  of  the  "  single  transferable 
vote/*  which  is  provided  in  the  Constitution  for  the 
election  of  senators  and  members  of  the  Executive 
Committees  of  the  Provinces,  has  been  adopted. 

In  the  purely  rural  districts  of  the  Transvaal  the 
elementary  functions  of  a  local  authority  are  still  per- 
formed by  the  Resident  Magistrate,  an  official  who,  in 
this  province,  and  generally  throughout  South  Africa,  is 
charged  with  administrative  as  well  as  judicial  duties. 
It  was  customary,  however,  under  the  Crown  Colony 
Administration,  for  the  officials  of  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  Government,  especially  those  of  Agriculture, 
Education,  and  Public  Works,  to  seek  the  advice  of 
persons  resident  in  the  various  localities  ;  and  under 
Responsible  Government  formal  recognition  was  given  to 
the  practice  by  the  establishment  of  popularly  elected 
local  boards,  charged  with  the  duty  of  advising  the 
department  concerned  upon  matters  of  education,  road 
maintenance  and  construction,  water  supplies,  and  the 
enforcement  of  regulations  for  the  prevention  of  animal 
diseases.  Under  the  Constitution,  these  Boards  are 
maintained,  but  they  now  lend  assistance  either  to  the 
Union  Government  or  to  the  Provincial  Administration, 
according  as  the  matters  upon  which  they  severally 
advise  fall  within  the  administrative  sphere  of  the  former 
or  the  latter.  It  should  be  noted  also  in  this  connection 
that  the  field  cornets,  the  old  Dutch  local  officials  whose 
business  is  to  aid  the  resident  magistrate  in  securing  the 
due  administration  of  the  law  in  country  districts,  have 
been  re-established  by  General  Botha's  Ministry. 

The  control  exercised  over  these  local  Government 
authorities  by  the  Provincial  Administration,  as  the 
successor  of  the  Government  of  the  Colony,  consists  of 
the  usual  powers  of  audit  and  surcharge,  and  the  right 
to  approve  or  disallow  loan  proposals,  improvement 
schemes,  and  the  alienation  of  municipal  property. 

418 


THE   CAPE    MUNICIPALITIES 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE  CAPE  PROVINCE 
In  the  Cape  Province  local  government  is  fully 
developed  among  the  European  inhabitants,  and,  as  we 
have  noticed,  is  being  extended  tentatively  to  the  native 
population.  The  institutions  comprised  in  the  system 
are  municipalities,  divisional  councils,  and  village 
management  boards.  Municipalities  were  established 
as  early  as  1836,  twenty  years  before  the  advent  of 
Representative  Government ;  but  the  law  under  which 
these  institutions  are  regulated  (with  few  exceptions) 
to-day — the  Act  of  1882,  which  consolidates  and  amends 
the  earlier  legislation — was  passed  ten  years  after  the 
grant  of  Responsible  Government  to  the  (then)  colony. 
Divisional  councils  were  first  established  in  1855,  two 
years  after  the  grant  of  Representative  Government. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Cape  Division,  which  returns 
a  council  of  fourteen  members,  they  consist  of  six  to 
eight  members,  elected  every  three  years  by  owners  of 
fixed  property  of  the  value  of  £500  being  also  registered 
as  Parliamentary  voters,  with  the  resident  magistrate  of 
the  division  as  chairman.  With  the  introduction  of 
separate  administrative  machinery  for  land  and  educa- 
tion matters,  the  business  of  these  councils  has  somewhat 
diminished ;  and  to-day  their  chief  functions  are  to 
maintain  the  roads,  to  decide  questions  of  disputed  land 
boundaries,  to  initiate  and  carry  out  works  of  public 
utility  by  means  of  loans  secured  on  the  rates,  to  nominate 
the  field  cornets,  and  to  return  three  members  annually 
to  serve  on  the  District  Licensing  Court.  Provision  for 
the  establishment  of  village  management  boards  was 
made  in  1881.  The  adoption  of  the  Act  is  voluntary,  not 
compulsory  ;  and  its  provisions  are  declared  to  be  in 
force  within  a  specified  area  upon  the  petition  of  the 
inhabitants  concerned.  The  boards  consist  of  three  or 
five  members,  elected  annually  by  the  Parliamentary 
voters  of  the  respective  areas.  They  have  no  power  to 

419 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

levy  rates  ;  but  a  village  board  can  request  the  Divisional 
Council  to  levy  rates  up  to  3d.  in  the  £  within  its  area, 
and  thus  raise  money  for  the  prosecution  of  approved 
undertakings. 

In  1909  there  were  in  the  Cape  Province  120  munici- 
palities, with  aggregate  receipts  (for  that  year)  of 
£1,164,712,  and  aggregate  payments  of  £1,228,253  ;  eighty 
divisional  councils,  with  aggregate  receipts  of  £365,987 
(derived  from  road  rates,  pound  sales,  and  toll  fees),  and 
aggregate  payments  of  £348,427  ;  and  eighty-seven  village 
Boards,  with  aggregate  revenues  (for  1908-9)  of 
£12,753  2s. 

On  December  31st,  1909,  the  120  municipalities  had 
an  aggregate  assessed  rateable  value  of  fixed  property 
of  £54,866,101  ;  a  total  indebtedness  (after  payment  of 
sinking  funds  to  date)  of  £6,478,874  ;  total  liabilities  of 
over  £7,000,000;  and  total  assets  of  over  £9,000,000, 
leaving  £1,844,728  as  the  surplus  of  assets  against  liabili- 
ties. The  assets  (apart  from  bank  balances,  investments, 
arrears  of  rates,  etc.)  are  the  estimated  present  value  of 
the  property  owned  by  the  municipalities .  Under  this  head 
are  included  the  town  halls  or  municipal  offices,  markets, 
houses,  drainage  works,  waterworks,  electric  works,  gas 
works,  gardens  and  recreation  grounds,  the  plant  and  stock 
of  municipal  undertakings,  and  street  improvements. 

The  table  on  p.  421,  which,  like  the  foregoing  figures, 
has  been  taken  from  the  Statistical  Register  of  the  Cape 
Province,  will  exhibit  the  resources  and  financial  position 
of  each  of  the  six  chief  municipalities. 

The  second  table  on  p.  421  is  interesting  as  showing 
the  tramway  service  of  the  capital  and  other  large  towns 
of  this  province. 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  AMONG  THE  NATIVES 

The  first  establishment  of  local  government  institu- 
tions among  the  native  population  was  the  work  of 

420 


NATIVE   LOCAL   GOVERNMENT 


Rhodes,  who,  in  1894,  when  Prime  Minister  and  Secre- 
tary for  Native  Affairs,  carried  the  Glen  Grey  Act  through 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  FINANCIAL  POSITION  OF  THE 
Six  PRINCIPAL  MUNICIPALITIES  OF  THE  CAPE  PROVINCE 


Municipalities. 

Receipts 
in  1909. 

Payments 
in  1909. 

Debt  at 
Dec.  3ist, 
1909. 

Assessed 
Rateable 
Value  of 
Fixed 
Property. 

Date 
of 

Valua- 
tion. 

Balance 

Sheets 
(Surplus 
of  Assets 
over  Lia- 
bilities). 

Capetown    .  . 
Port  Elizabeth 
Kimberley  .. 
Bast  London 
Grahamstown 
King      William's 
Town*      .. 

£ 
346,856 
122,166 
79,649 
96,883 
20,060 

32,563 

£ 
344,322 
137,020 
76,893 
93,756 
23,522 

112,564 

£ 
2,902,750 
808,596 
43,074 
382,882 
79,308 

186,675 

13,634,874 
6,396,191 
2,161,905 
3,039,655 
851,990 

844,991 

1907 
1909 
1907 
1909 
1908 

1908 

£ 
706,374 
175,087 

1& 

189,984 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  MUNICIPAL  AND  PRIVATE 
TRAMWAYS    IN    THE    CAPE    PROVINCE    IN    1910 


Approxi- 

mate No. 

Name  of  Company. 

District  Served. 

Length 
of  Line 
in  miles. 

Mode  of 
Traction. 

of  Pas- 
sengers 
carried 

Car 

Mileage 
Run. 

during  the 

12  mos. 

The  Metropolitan 
Tramways  Co.,  Ltd. 

(Capetown,  Green   St^ 
Sea   Point,  Wood- 

The City  Tramways 
Co.,  Ltd  
The  Southern  Suburbs 

stock,  Mowbray, 
Randesbosch,Clare- 
mont,    and    Wyn- 

28-9 

Overhead 
Electric 

«,905,56i 

1,865,481 

of  Capetown  Co.,  Ltd. 

berg                          - 

The     Camp's     Bay 
Tramway  Co.,  Ltd. 

(Camp's     Bay,     Sea' 
Point,  Green  Point, 

portion  of  Capetown 

7'8 

„ 

300,627 

158,399 

and  via  Kloof  Road 

to  Camp's  Bay 

The  Port  Elizabeth 

Electric  Tramways 

Co.,  Ltd.     ..         .. 

Town  of  Port  Elizabeth 

8 

. 

2,978,217 

448,450 

Victoria  Tramway 

Kimberley,  Beacons-  \ 

2*5 

!• 

Co.,  Kimberley 

field,   Kenilworth    / 

3 

Horse 

365,720 

269,000 

De  Beers  Consoli- 

Kimberley to  Alex-  \ 

Overhead 

dated  Mines,  Ltd.  .  . 
East  London  Muni- 

andersfontein          / 
East  London  Muni-\ 

5'8 

Electric 

127,708 

76,272 

cipal  Tramways     .  . 

cipality                    / 

5'6 

" 

1,322,023 

249,855 

the  Cape  Parliament.     Under  this  measure  a  voluntary 
system  of  village  and  district  councils  was  applied  to  the 


1  Raised  in  1909  £170,771   loan,  by  issue  of  stock  at  4 
interest,  redeemable  in  1909. 

421 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Glen  Grey  area  and  Fingoland,  and  subsequently  extended 
to  other  districts  within  the  Cape  proper.  In  recommend- 
ing the  proposal  to  Parliament,  Rhodes  pointed  out  that, 
by  the  establishment  of  European  control  the  natives 
had  lost  the  occupation  furnished  by  "  War  and  Councils 
of  War/1  and  that  as  yet  nothing  had  been  substituted 
for  it.  Under  his  proposal,  however,  they  would  be  able 
to  occupy  their  minds  with  matters  "  like  bridges,  roads, 
education,  plantation  of  trees,  and  various  local  ques- 
tions." They  were  to  be  allowed  "  to  tax  themselves  " 
for  these  local  purposes,  and  under  such  a  system  "  the 
Transkei  would  be  able  to  pay  the  cost  of  its  own  develop- 
ment." The  Glen  Grey  Act  provided  for  the  establish- 
ment of  location  Boards  and  district  councils.  The 
former,  consisting  of  three  holders  of  land  appointed  by 
the  Government  "  after  consideration  of  the  wishes  and 
recommendations  of  the  resident  holders  of  land  in  the 
location,"  could  be  invested  with  the  powers  of  the 
village  management  boards.  The  latter  were  composed 
of  twelve  members,  of  whom  six  were  to  be  appointed  by 
the  Government  and  six  selected  by  the  members  of  the 
Location  Boards,  with  the  Resident  Magistrate  of  the 
district  as  ex-officio  chairman  ;  and  these  councils  were 
empowered  to  levy  rates  up  to  2d.  in  the  £  on  the  rate- 
able property  within  the  district,  and  a  rate  of  not  more 
than  5s.  on  every  adult  male  native  (with  certain 
exceptions). 

In  the  Transkei,  at  the  present  time,  seventeen  out  of 
the  twenty-six  districts  to  which  the  system  may  be 
applied,  possess  district  councils  ;  and  a  General  Council 
of  the  Transkeian  Territories,  which  had  a  revenue  in 
1910  of  £62,264,  has  been  established.1  The  present 

1  A  general  idea  of  the  financial  powers  of  these  Native  Local 
Government  institutions  in  the  Cape  Province  will  be  obtained 
by  a  glance  at  the  table  (second  part)  given  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  at  page  408,  which  shows  the  native  contribution  to 
the  local  Government  revenue  of  the  Union  in  the  year  1910. 

422 


NATIVE   COUNCILS 

condition  and  the  future  prospects  of  these  institutions 
will  appear  in  the  following  passage,  written  by  the 
Under-Secretary  for  Native  Affairs  in  the  Cape  Province, 
under  date  March  7th,  1911,  and  published  in  the 
recently-issued  Union  Blue  Book  on  Native  Affairs. 
Local  Government :  The  Native  Councils. 

More  than  usual  activity  characterised  last  session  of  the 
Transkeian  Territories  General  Council,  at  which  the  several 
interests  of  the  population,  social,  municipal,  and  agricultural, 
received  a  fair  share  of  attention. 

On  the  question  of  education,  several  proposals  were 
submitted,  which,  however,  were  not  likely  to  meet  with 
the  approval  of  the  Government.  .  .  . 

The  development  and  maintenance  of  roads  and  bridges,  for 
example,  should  not  wait  upon  the  advocacy  of  a  measure  of 
compulsory  attendance  of  children  at  Native  Schools — a  measure 
that  is  at  present  neither  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
people  as  a  whole,  nor  consistent  with  their  social  requirements, 
besides  being  wholly  impracticable  from  a  financial  point  of  view, 
involving,  as  it  would  do,  an  increase  of  schools  and  teachers  to 
treble  the  present  number. 

But,  subject  to  the  moderation  of  wiser  counsel  when 
necessary,  the  Report  continues : 

The  deliberations  of  Native  Councils  continue  to  serve  a  useful 
and  important  part  in  the  work  of  local  government.  The 
system  now  embraces  seventeen  out  of  the  twenty-six  districts 
to  which  it  may  be  applied  in  the  Transkeian  Territories.  The 
later  additions  are  Mount  Aylif  (1907),  St.  Mark's  (1909),  and 
Mount  Frere  (1910)  ;  while,  at  the  present  moment,  steps  are 
being  taken  to  extend  it  also  to  the  locations  in  the  district  of 
Matatiele.  .  .  . 

In  extending  the  Council  Proclamation  to  new  areas,  the  policy 
has  been  not  to  thrust  it  upon  the  people,  but  to  regard  their 
favourable  reception  of  the  measure  as  a  condition  precedent  to 
its  application.  Pondoland  has  been  slow  in  attaining  to  the 
wisdom  of  its  adoption.  But  it  is  significant  of  more  enlightened 
views  and  the  contentment  of  peaceable  administration,  that  the 
chiefs  of  Western  and  Eastern  Pondoland  are  at  present  con- 
ferring together  as  to  the  advisability  of  their  coming  voluntarily 
under  its  operation. 

No  definite  advance  has  as  yet  been  made  in  regard  to  the 
establishment  of  District  Councils  and  a  Ciskeian  General  Council, 

423 

28— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

for  the  administration  of  local  affairs  in  native  areas  of  the  Cape 
Province  proper.  The  proposal  is  one  that  has  received  con- 
sistent support  from  local  magistrates,  and  it  was  strongly 
advocated  by  the  recent  Native  Affairs  Commission,  which  made 
several  important  suggestions  as  to  the  steps  by  which  it  might 
most  satisfactorily  be  introduced.  Its  adoption  is  only  delayed 
by  the  opposition  of  the  numerical  majority  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  necessity  of  placing  local  affairs  in  the  districts  concerned 
on  a  satisfactory  footing  is,  however,  being  more  and  more  keenly 
felt ;  and  the  question  presents  itself  .  .  .  whether  the  Govern- 
ment should  not  assume  the  responsibility  of  initiating  the  measure 
— which  is  approved  by  the  more  enlightened  minority — and 
undoubtedly  for  the  common  good. 

THE  FREE  STATE  AND  NATAL 

The  local  Government  institutions  possessed  by  the 
Free  State  and  Natal  present  no  features  of  special  interest. 
The  Free  State  system,  subject  to  the  modifications 
already  indicated,  is  framed  upon  the  same  lines  as  that 
of  the  Transvaal,  while  the  mainly  British  European 
population  of  Natal  have  followed  naturally  the  English 
models  in  their  local  Government  legislation.  In  this 
latter  province  there  were,  in  1910,  three  other  Municipal 
Corporations  besides  Durban  and  Maritzburg,  and  local 
boards  in  seven  lesser  towns.  The  aggregate  revenue 
and  expenditure  of  these  authorities  in  the  preceding 
year  amounted  respectively  to  £530,686  and  £518,154  ; 
and  their  aggregate  indebtedness  was  £3,749,538. 

THE  CHIEF  TOWNS  OF  THE  UNION 
The  material  progress  achieved  by  South  Africa  since 
the  termination  of  the  War,  remarkable  as  it  is  in  all 
respects,  has  not  as  yet  altered  the  economic  conditions 
which,  by  making  townsmen  of  the  British  and  country- 
men of  the  Dutch,  have  kept  apart  the  two  nationalities 
for  nearly  a  century.  State  effort,  such  as  the  establish- 
ment of  British  agricultural  settlers  in  the  Transvaal  and 
Free  State,  and  the  marked  improvement  which  has 
taken  place  in  both  the  profits  and  amenities  of  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  have  done  something  to  break  down 

424 


JOHANNESBURG 

the  line  of  cleavage  ;  but  for  the  present  the  small  towns 
and  villages  still  remain  frankly  Dutch,  while  the  large 
towns  and  industrial  centres  are  scarcely  less  character- 
istically British.  The  fact  that  the  presence  of  the  native 
leaves  little  or  no  employment  available  in  South  Africa 
for  the  British  emigrant  of  the  unskilled  labourer  class, 
and  the  backwardness  of  agriculture,  have  limited  most 
effectively  the  growth  of  the  British  element  in  the  past ; 
and  the  Union  has  only  one  centre  of  population  at  all 
comparable  with  the  great  cities  of  Australia  and  Canada. 
These  Dominions  have  each  alone  four  towns  of  over 
100,000  inhabitants.  In  Australia,  where  the  city  growth 
is  the  more  distinctive,  Sydney  and  Melbourne  have 
populations  respectively  of  637,102  and  591,830  inhabi- 
tants ;  Montreal,  the  largest  city  of  Canada,  has  466,197  ; 
and  Toronto,  376,240  inhabitants.  The  one  great  centre 
of  population  in  South  Africa  is,  of  course,  the  Rand  ; 
and  Johannesburg,  together  with  the  lesser  municipalities 
of  this  district,  now  form  a  European  community  of  some 
175,000  persons,  while  the  composite  coloured  and 
European  population  numbers  approximately  400,000. 

The  table  on  p.  426  gives  the  precise  figures  for 
Johannesburg,  Germiston,  Krugersdorp,  Boksburg,  and 
Roodepoort-Maraisburg — the  chief  municipalities  of  the 
Rand — and  exhibits  the  movement  of  population  in  these 
and  the  other  large  towns  of  the  Union. 

JOHANNESBURG 

The  municipality  of  Johannesburg  has  an  area  of 
81£  square  miles,  all  parts  of  which,  whether  built  over 
or  not,  are  connected  together  by  an  excellent  system  of 
streets  and  roads.  It  is  furnished  with  a  water  supply1 

1  This  is  the  joint  undertaking  of  the  Mines  and  the  Munici- 
palities of  the  Rand,  whose  several  interests  are  equitably  repre- 
sented on  the  Administrative  Authority — the  Rand  Water  Board. 
The  Board  supplies  water'  in  bulk  to  the  municipalities,  and 
the  latter  distribute  and  retail  the  water  to  the  consumers  (other 
than  the  Mines). 

425 


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JOHANNESBURG 

and  a  system  of  water-borne  drainage  ;  with  electric 
tramway,  lighting,  and  railway  services  ;  with  telephones, 
abattoirs,  hospitals,  parks,  recreation  grounds,  and 
swimming  baths  ;  and  its  general  equipment  and  its 
more  recent  public  and  private  buildings  are  on  the  scale 
of  an  English  town  of  the  first  rank.  Its  advance  has 
been  achieved  in  the  face  of  unfavourable  physical  and 
political  conditions  ;  but  both  in  the  surmounting  of 
such  special  difficulties,  and  in  the  administration  of  its 
finances  and  numerous  municipal  undertakings,  Johannes- 
burg has  been  well  and  generously  served  by  individual 
citizens  of  public  spirit  and  high  ability. 

The  rateable  value  of  the  fixed  property  within  the 
municipal  area  is  £27,320,275  ;  and  the  gross  revenue 
and  expenditure  have  risen  respectively  from  £650,796 
Os.  7d.  and  £648,299  16s.  in  the  two  years'  period- 
May  16th,  1901,  to  June  30th,  1903— to  £1,438,976 10s.  Od. 
and  £1,504,042  6s.  4d.  in  the  year  June  30th,  1910,  to 
June  30th,  1911.  The  expenditure  of  this  last  year, 
however,  was  swollen  by  a  sum  of  £182,984  12s.  7d. 
appropriated  out  of  revenue  to  capital  expenditure  and 
special  payments.  The  revenue  of  the  municipality  com- 
prises :  (1)  Rates;  (2)  fines;  (3)  licence  moneys  ;  and 
(4)  charges  for  the  supply  of  electricity,  gas,  water,  and 
for  sanitary  and  other  services.  Of  these  sources,  the 
rates  and  charges  for  supplies  and  services  are  the  most 
important.  No  rate  of  more  than  3d.  in  the  £  can  be 
levied  unless  the  consent  of  the  Provincial  Administra- 
tion has  been  obtained,  and  up  to  the  present  time  the 
maximum  rate  has  been  2£d.  This  rate  (2£d.  in  the  £) 
levied  on  the  above  valuation  produced  £287,637  in  the 
year  1910-11.  The  net  profits  derived  from  the  various 
trading  concerns  of  the  municipality  for  the  three  years 
1908-11  are  shown  on  the  next  page. 

The  total  indebtedness  of  the  municipality  is  £5,750,000, 
which  is  made  up  of  the  issue  of  £5,500,000  Johannesburg 

427 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

NET  PROFITS  OF  MUNICIPAL  UNDERTAKINGS 

Year.     Gasc&  E)ectric  cWatfr  Tramways.  Market. 

Supply.  Supply. 

£  s.  d.  i        s.  d.           £  s.  d.  £       s.  d. 

1908-9   ..76,196  4  5  1,476  19  11  44,296  9  5  6,222  19  1 

1909-10..  88,737  8  11  20,000  15  9  50,953  0  5  7,149  15  9 

1910-11..  35,508  5  5  27,702  18  1  46,186  19  11  5,913  12  O1 

Municipal  Four  Per  Cent.  Inscribed  Stock  and  £250,000 
Johannesburg  Municipal  Bills.  Provision  is  made  for  the 
repayment  of  the  three  issues  of  Municipal  Stock,  by 
means  of  a  redemption  fund,  on  the  dates  in  1933  and 
1934  upon  which  the  principal  sums  respectively  fall 
due ;  and  a  reserve  fund  has  been  established  to 
make  good  the  depreciation  and  obsolescence  ol  the 
municipality's  assets.  As  the  redemption  fund 
amounted  to  £880,838  8s.  lOd.  on  June  30th,  1911,  the 
net  debt  of  the  Municipality  at  the  same  date  was  only 
£4,869,161  11s.  2d.  The  cost  of  Discount  on  Loans  and 
Flotation  Expenses  was  £315,829  10s.  Od.  ;  but  to  the 
£5,184,170  10s.  Od.,  being  the  net  produce  of  the  loans, 
and  the  £250,000  raised  by  the  Municipal  bills,  a  further 
sum  of  £403,028  2s.  7d.  has  been  added  from  revenue 
and  the  like  sources,  making  at  June  30th,  1911,  a  total 
appropriation  to  expenditure  on  capital  account  of 
£5,837,198  12s.  7d.  Of  this  total,  a  sum  of  £5,270,846  6s. 
8d.  had  been  spent  up  to  June  30th,  1911,  as  shown  on 
page  429. 

Among  the  unfinished  or  newly  projected  works  to 
which  the  unexpended  balance,  shown  below,  is  appro- 
priated, the  most  important  is  the  Town  Hall.  The 
main  contract  for  this  building,  which  involves  a  total 
outlay  of  over  £300,000,  was  accepted  by  the  Municipal 
Council  at  a  special  meeting  held  on  February  7th,  1912. 2 

1  The  net  profit  on  the  Market  was  actually  £19,055  3s.  4d.,  but 
a  sum  of  £6,473  3s.  7d.  was  taken  therefrom  for  the  establishment 
of  an  Art  Gallery,  and  £6,668  7s.  9d.  was  held  in  suspense. 

2  Municipal   Council    of   Johannesburg.     "Town   Treasurers' 
Report,  etc.,  for  the  year  ended  June  30th,  1911."  and  "Minutes 
of  Special  Meeting  of' Feb.  7th,  1912." 

428 


MUNICIPAL   EXPENDITURE 


EXPENDITURE  ON  CAPITAL  ACCOUNT 


Public  Health    .. 
Sanitary  System 
Sewerage 

At  .     1  • 


s.    d. 


1,153 


j.     d. 

7     5 


701,559     5     5 
249,022     3     3 


48,072 

12 

7 

136,986 

3 

2 

1,323,622 

9  2 

1,145,046 

11 

5 

75,692 

17 

3 

51,986 

3 

2 

11,947 

6 

3 

2,100,469 

1  5 

35,776 

4 

11 

894,448 

2 

1 

744,538 

5 

4 

329,792 

18 

3 

95,913 

10 

10 

5  270  846 

6  8 

.. 

W  ,  ^  /  V  *O*T  \J 

566,352 

5  11 

306,946  19 
511,835     4 

Abattoir 51,617  17 

Road  Construction   and   Improvements 

Stormwater  Drainage       ..        342,036     7 
Sundry  Properties 

Klipspruit  (Native)  Location 

Town  Lands,  etc. 
Other  Undertakings 

Expropriated  Area 

Fire  Department   . 

Parks 

Swimming  Bath    . 
Trading  Departments  . 

Gas  Department   . 

Electric         ,, 

Tramways    ,, 

Water 

Market 

Balance — Capital  Unexpended 

£5,837,198  12     7 
Add  Discount  on  Loans  and  Flotation  Expenses        315,829  10     0 

Total  gross  expenditure  on  Capital  Account  £6,153,028     2     7 

Johannesburg,  unlike  Capetown  and  Durban,  had  no 
original  endowment  of  natural  beauty.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  its  incomparable  air,  more  translucent  than  the 
atmosphere  of  Athens  and  of  Cairo, *  it  owes  everything 
— even  the  woods  of  the  Sachenswald — to  the  energy  of 
its  founders  and  their  successors,  the  Municipal  Council. 
Happily,  the  pioneers,  captains  of  industry  though  they 
were,  were  not  insensible  to  the  aesthetic  deficiencies  of 
their  new  home.  With  what  good  effect  they  planted, 
and  how  quickly  the  genial  nature  of  the  place  gave 
fruition  to  their  efforts,  is  plain  for  all  to  see.  Though 
it  is  barely  twenty-five  years  since  the  Witwatersrand 
was  a  treeless  waste  of  rolling  uplands,  to-day  the 

1  The  writer  has  sketched  in  water-colours  at  all  three  places 
(and  in  Australia). 

429 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

traveller  who  looks  southward  from  Hospital  Hill  upon 
Johannesburg  sees  islands  of  lofty  buildings  set  in  a  sea 
of  foliage  ;  while  northward  the  groves  and  gardens  of 
Parktown  rise  only  to  sink  again  into  the  darker  and 
more  ample  mantle  of  green  spread  by  the  woods  of  the 
Sachenswald.  With  no  conspicuous  marks  of  hill  or 
mountain,  no  gleaming  stretches  of  river  or  lake,  it  is  a 
town  that  needs  to  be  ennobled  by  monumental  works  of 
architecture,  wide  spaces  arranged  for  decorative  effect, 
avenues,  terraces,  and  statuary  grouped  in  gardens. 
With  such  works,  the  sun,  shining  through  the  dry,  clear 
air  of  the  High  Veld,  deals  kindly,  giving  full  value  to 
their  forms  by  sharp  contrasts  of  light  and  shade, 
and  striking  rainbow  hues  from  their  surfaces  by  its 
horizontal  rays  in  the  morning  and  evening  hours. l 

CAPETOWN 

The  site  of  Capetown  is  one  of  those  scenes  which  have 
come  from  Nature's  mint  stamped  for  all  time  with  the 
hall-mark  of  beauty.  The  traveller,  who  sees  Table 
Mountain  for  the  first  time  from  the  deck  of  the  mail- 
boat  in  the  early  morning,  and,  therefore,  sees  it  suddenly 
(since  the  ship  has  glided  quietly  to  its  moorings  in  the 
darkness),  is  not  likely  to  forget  the  vision  which  meets 
his  eyes.  The  square  mass  of  granite,  rising  sheer  for 
3,500  ft.  from  ground  to  sky  and  showing  a  delicate  blue 
through  the  morning  air,  is  more  like  the  wall  of  some 
gigantic  fortress  than  any  mountain  that  he  has  seen 
before.  The  thing  is  so  straight  and  solid,  so  near — it  so 
dominates  the  eye — that  the  green  slopes  of  the  Devil's 

1  The  principal  public  buildings,  erected  or  to  be  erected,  are  : 
The  Town  Hall,  the  Technical  Institute,  the  Law  Courts,  the 
Stock  Exchange,  the  Art  Gallery,  and  the  new  St.  Mary's  Church. 
Among  private  buildings,  the  Rand  Club  and  the  "  Corner  House  " 
are  conspicuous.  Bedford  Farm,  the  residence  of  Sir  George 
Farrar,  is  a  good  example  of  a  modern  house  built  in  the 
Afrikander  style. 

430 


CAPETOWN 

Peak,  the  rounded  masses  of  the  Lion's  Head  and  Signal 
Hill,  the  white  and  brown  houses  and  buildings  of  the 
town,  and  even  the  bright  waters  of  the  Bay  seem  all 
to  fall  aside  and  leave  nothing  between  it  and  him. 

Table  Mountain  is,  as  it  were,  the  head  of  a  mallet, 
the  handle  of  which  is  formed  by  the  Table  range  that 
runs  southward  through  the  Cape  Peninsula  for  some 
30  miles  to  the  actual  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The 
peninsula  forms  with  the  western  coast  of  the  mainland, 
from  which  it  projects,  Table  Bay  to  the  north  and  False 
Bay  to  the  south.  Capetown,  looking  northward  to  the 
equator  across  the  Bay,  with  the  curved  wall  of  Table 
Mountain  like  a  great  refractor  at  its  back,  is  unpleasantly 
hot  in  the  summer  ;  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  its  well- 
to-do  citizens  make  their  homes  in  the  suburbs,  travelling 
each  day  out  and  back  again  to  the  town  by  rail  or  tram- 
way to  do  their  business.  These  suburbs  are  built  for 
the  most  part,  on  the  cool,  well- wooded,  eastern  slopes 
of  the  Table  range,  looking  over  the  sandy  flats  that  join 
the  peninsula  to  the  mainland  ;  but  two,  Sea  Point  and 
Green  Point,  lie  west  of  the  town  and  front  the  Atlantic. 
In  climate  and  natural  surroundings  these  eastern 
suburbs  are  scarcely  less  well  endowed  than  the  towns 
of  the  Mediterranean  coastline  of  France,  and  many 
private  gardens  at  Rondesbosch,  Newlands,  and  Wynberg 
are  famous  for  the  beauty  and  variety  of  their  flowering 
shrubs  and  plants.  As  the  seat  of  the  Union  Legislature 
and  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Capetown,  the  city  contains 
the  Houses  of  Parliament  and  the  Cathedral  of  St.  George  ; 
nor  is  it  otherwise  deficient  either  in  public  buildings 
or  in  the  modern  conveniences  of  town  life. 

Capetown,  moreover,  has  the  grace  of  antiquity — a 
quality  possessed  by  no  other  town  in  South  Africa,  and 
by  none  in  Australia  or  New  Zealand,  and  shared  only 
with  the  older  cities  of  Canada.  The  judicious  traveller 
will  find  on  the  shores  of  Table  Bay  the  "  Castle," 

431 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

constructed  in  1666-74,  when  "  javelins,  bastions,  curtains, 
horn  works,  and  demilunes  "  were  still  the  fashion  ;  the 
Stadthaus,  in  Green  Market  Square,  built  in  the  time  of 
Governor  Tulbagh  ;  and  the  tower  of  the  "  Town  Church," 
furnished  in  1727  with  a  clock  sent  out  from  Holland  ; 
and  in  these  buildings,  and  in  the  eighteenth  century 
houses  of  the  older  streets,  he  will  catch  glimpses  of  the 
quaint,  constrained,  isolated  life  led  for  more  than  a 
century  by  the  little  European  community  planted  by 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company  in  1652.  While,  further 
afield,  in  the  fair  valley  of  Constantia  and  dotted  up  and 
down  the  Peninsula,  some  of  the  best  examples  of  the 
Afrikander  homestead  of  the  seventeenth  century — Groot 
Constantia,  Alphen,  and  Tokay — are  to  be  seen  among 
their  avenues  of  oaks,  their  trim  vineyards,  and  their 
glory  of  peach  blossoms.  Here,  too,  at  Rondesbosch,  is 
Groote  Schuur,  once  the  home  of  Rhodes,  now  by  his 
gift  the  official  residence  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  the 
Union.  From  the  gardens  of  Groote  Schuur,  now 
enriched  by  Watts'  fine  sculpture  of  "  Physical  Energy/' 
which  forms  most  suitably  the  chief  member  of  the  Rhodes 
Memorial,  the  eye  ranges  through  the  screen  of  pine 
woods  across  grey-green  and  silver  stretches  to  the  blue 
peaks  of  the  Hottentots'  Holland  and  the  vast  interior 
of  Africa.  With  this  vision  before  her,  Capetown  sent 
her  greeting  to  England  : 

Hail !      Snatched  and  bartered  oft  from  hand  to  hand, 
I  dream  my  dream,  by  rock  and  heath  and  pine, 

Of  Empire  to  the  northward.     Ay,  one  land 
From  Lion's  Head  to  Line. 

PRETORIA 

Among  the  towns  of  South  Africa,  Pretoria  is  the 
favourite  of  fortune.  It  owes  its  position  as  the  seat  of 
government  to  its  convenient  nearness  to  the  Rand,  the 
commercial  and  industrial  centre  of  the  Union.  The 
town,  which  was  laid  out  in  1855  on  the  northern  bank 

432 


PRETORIA 

of  the  little  Aapies  River,  lies  more  than  1,000  ft.  below 
the  level  of  Johannesburg,  and  it  has  a  temperature  some 
5°  higher ;  the  respective  average  means  for  the  year 
being  64°  and  59°.  The  suburbs,  however,  which  are 
built  on  the  slopes  of  the  encircling  hills,  are  appreciably 
cooler  than  the  town  itself.  Prior  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Crown  Colony  Administration,  the  respective 
claims  of  Johannesburg  and  Pretoria  to  be  made  the 
seat  of  government  were  debated  for  some  time  ;  but 
Mr.  Chamberlain  at  length  decided  in  favour  of  the  latter  ; 
and  the  town,  then  endowed  for  the  first  time  with 
municipal  institutions,  developed  rapidly  in  the  interval 
between  the  war  and  the  Union. 

During  this  period,  Pretoria  was  the  seat  of  the  Trans- 
vaal Legislature  and  Judicature,  and  of  all  the  adminis- 
trative departments  of  the  Government,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  those  of  Mines  and  Native  Affairs,  which  were 
established  at  Johannesburg.  It  was  the  head-quarters 
of  the  General  Officer  commanding  the  Imperial  forces 
in  South  Africa,  and  it  was  here  that  the  new  Govern- 
ment House,  required  for  the  High  Commissioner  and 
Governor  of  the  Transvaal  and  Orange  River  Colony,  was 
built.  Moreover,  the  establishment  of  the  Central  South 
African  Railways'  shops  here  in  1902  brought  an 
appreciable  increase  of  European  population  to  the  town. 

At  the  date  of  the  Union,  the  rateable  value  of  the 
fixed  property  within  the  municipality  was  (in  round 
numbers)  £7,500,000,  augmented  by  some  £1,500,000  of 
Government  property,  in  respect  of  which  a  grant-in-aid 
was  paid  in  lieu  of  rates.  The  annual  revenue  (1909-10) 
was  £211,000,  the  expenditure  £187,000,  and  the  debt  of 
£1,000,000  4  per  cent.  Inscribed  Stock,  redeemable  within 
thirty  years  (1939),  was  covered  by  municipal  assets  of 
the  value  of  £1,150,000.  The  Council  have  power  to 
levy  a  rate  of  3d.  in  the  £,  but  up  to  the  present  no  rate 
higher  than  2d.  has  been  imposed. 

433 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

To-day  Pretoria  is  being  furnished  with  the  more 
ample  equipment  demanded  by  its  new  dignity  and 
importance.  With  this  end  in  view,  both  the  Munici- 
pality and  the  Union  Government  have  provided  funds 
for  a  large  capital  expenditure.  In  1910  the  former 
obtained  powers  to  raise  a  further  million  sterling  upon 
the  same  terms  as  to  interest  and  redemption  of  capital 
as  the  first.  The  works  and  undertakings  for  which  the 
new  loan  was  required  include  an  increased  water  supply, 
sewerage,  road  construction,  the  canalisation  of  the 
Aapies  River,  tramways,  abattoirs,  and  markets  ;  and 
are,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  directly  reproductive 
character.  The  Government,  on  their  side,  have  made 
provision  for  the  erection  of  the  following  buildings  at 
an  approximate  total  cost  of  £1,500,000: 

Union  Government  Buildings. 

Post  Office. 

Museum  and  Government  Library. 

National  College  of  Agriculture. 

University  College. 

Railway  Station. 

In  contemplating  this  list,  the  mind  is  carried  back  to 
the  sudden  change  in  the  fortunes  of  Pretoria  brought 
about  twenty  years  ago  by  the  establishment  of  the  gold 
industry  of  the  Rand.  In  1889  the  Volksraad  met  in  a 
little  thatch-roofed  building.  Three  years  later  this 
meagre  council  chamber  had  been  replaced  by  the  new 
Raadzaal,  erected  at  a  cost  of  £200,000,  and  comparable 
in  its  spaciousness  and  architectural  merit  to  any  of  the 
then  existing  public  buildings  of  South  Africa. 

The  Union  Buildings,  for  which  it  will  be  remembered 
that  a  provision  of  £1,130,000  was  made  in  the  Estimates 
for  1911-12,  are  designed  upon  a  scale  which  will  make 
them  almost  as  great  an  advance  upon  the  Raadzaal  as 
was  the  Raadzaal  upon  the  original  thatch-roofed  home 
of  the  Volksraad.  This  stately  edifice,  as  planned  by 

434 


THE    UNION    BUILDINGS 

Mr.  Herbert  Baker  to  give  expression  to  the  Union  of 
South  Africa,  is  to  be  placed  on  the  side  of  Meintjes  Kop, 
the  highest  and  terminating  point  of  the  spur  that  runs 
westward  towards  the  town  from  the  high  ground  of 
Bryntirion  and  the  red  roofs  of  the  Governor-General's 
official  home.  The  actual  site  recalls  vaguely  the  entrance 
to  the  Acropolis  of  Athens.  The  slope  of  the  hill  is  inter- 
rupted by  a  stretch  of  level  ground,  which,  at  a  point 
near  to  the  town,  is  itself  broken  by  the  passage  of  a 
ravine.  On  reaching  the  level  ground,  the  ravine  first 
widens,  forming  a  hollow,  in  which  the  waters  of  the 
stream  were  once  held  up  by  a  dam,  and  then  closes 
again  to  climb  upwards  to  the  crown  of  the  hill.  On 
each  side  of  the  ravine,  and  on  this  shelf  of  level  ground, 
Mr.  Baker  places  a  monumental  block  of  public  offices, 
and  then  unites  them  by  a  semicircular  colonnade  which 
follows  the  backward  sweep  of  the  hollow.  The  floor  of 
the  amphitheatre  thus  formed  is  to  be  laid  out  in  gardens, 
and  decorated  with  terraces,  fountains,  and  statues. 

The  material  of  construction  is  the  white  stone  of  the 
country,  and  the  dominant  architectural  forms  are  those 
of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  Each  block  of  offices  sur- 
rounds an  open  courtyard — an  arrangement  which  secures 
coolness  and  an  economic  disposal  of  all  available  space — 
and  their  junction  with  the  colonnade  is  marked  on  each 
side  by  a  graceful  cupola.  The  two  lateral  masses, 
though  wedded  to  the  hillside  by  the  colonnade,  present 
a  lofty  frontage  to  the  town.  Each  block  rises  from  a 
base  of  solid  masonry,  and  the  lines  of  its  facade,  broken 
by  boldly  projecting  and  richly  columned  members  at 
either  end,  are  emphasised  by  massive  cornices  and 
deep-set  windows. 

Meintjes  Kop  is  only  a  mile  from  Church  Square,  the 
centre  of  Pretoria,  and  thus  placed  the  Union  buildings 
will  be  seen  from  every  quarter  of  the  town  ;  while  the 
prospect  from  the  site  itself  is  varied  and  far-reaching. 

435 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Beneath  the  spectator  lies  the  town  like  an  unfolded  map  ; 
westward,  his  eye  follows  the  range  of  the  Magaliesberg 
until — 30  miles  away — it  sinks  into  the  horizon,  and 
southward  it  travels  over  curving  uplands  to  the  ridge 
behind  which  lies  Johannesburg  and  the  Rand. 

DURBAN 

To  have  won  free  access  from  the  sea  to  this  fine 
natural  harbour  by  sheer  determination,  backed  by 
engineering  skill,  is  an  achievement  which  would  do 
honour  to  a  far  more  numerous  community  than  the 
little  Colony  of  Natal.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat 
here  what  has  been  written  in  an  earlier  chapter1  of 
Durban  the  port,  and  the  admirable  equipment  of  its 
harbour  and  docks.  Durban,  the  town,  is,  perhaps,  the 
pleasant est  of  all  the  large  towns  of  the  Union,  and  in 
its  physical  aspects  and  its  social  atmosphere  it  is  sug- 
gestive rather  of  India  than  South  Africa.  The  town 
itself  is  spread  on  the  level  ground  around  the  Bay,  and 
is  laid  out  with  wide  streets,  and  well  furnished  with 
handsome  buildings.  It  has  the  customary  public  offices 
and  tramway  service,  parks  and  recreation  grounds,  a 
theatre,  Turkish  and  swimming  baths,  and  botanical 
gardens  with  a  fine  display  of  tropical  growths.  The 
residential  quarter  lies  on  the  Berea,  a  ridge  of  high 
ground  raised  some  three  or  four  hundred  feet  above 
sea-level.  Here,  among  the  luxuriant  foliage  and  brilliant 
hues  of  tropical  plants,  the  chief  citizens  of  Durban  have 
made  themselves  delightful  homes  ;  and  to  the  near 
beauty  and  fragrance  of  their  avenues  and  gardens  is 
added  a  landscape  of  rare  quality.  For,  from  the  Berea, 
we  see  spread  out  before  us  the  town,  the  harbour  with 
its  shipping,  the  quiet  waters  of  the  Bay,  the  stretch  of 
silver  sands  that  mark  the  Point,  the  bold,  tree-clad 

1  Part  IV,  Chap.  II,  p.  256. 

436 


DURBAN 

headland  of  the  Bluff,  and  beyond  the  blue  line  of  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Durban  is  hot,  the  mean  temperature 
for  the  year  being  72° ;  but  the  clubs  and  hotels  are 
cool,  and  the  needs  of  the  visitor  are  well  supplied  by 
linen-clad  Indian  and  native  servants. 


437 


CHAPTER   III 

LAW,    ORDER,    AND   DEFENCE 

JUSTICE  is  administered  in  the  Union  on  the  dual  basis 
of  Roman-Dutch  and  English  law.  As  the  Cape  was  a 
Dutch  Colony,  the  law  of  the  land  up  to  the  time  of  the 
permanent  British  occupation,  in  1806,  was  the  Roman- 
Dutch  common  law  of  the  Netherlands,  modified,  how- 
ever, by  local  enactments.  These  latter  comprised  both 
the  ordinances  and  placaats  of  the  Governor  and  Council 
of  the  colony,  and — since  the  Cape  was  a  part  of  the 
administrative  system  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies — the 
"  Statutes  of  India,"  that  is  to  say,  so  much  of  the  enact- 
ments of  the  Governor-General  and  Council  of  India, 
seated  at  Batavia,  as  was  applicable  to  the  Dutch  East 
India  system  as  a  whole.  In  the  British,  as  in  the 
Roman  Empire,  it  has  been  the  practice  to  recognise  the 
religion,  customs,  and  law  of  the  incorporated  peoples  ; 
and,  in  accordance  with  this  practice,  the  Roman-Dutch 
law  was  maintained  in  the  Cape  Colony. 

None  the  less,  the  British  occupation  brought  a  change. 
The  local  Dutch  statute  law  was  abandoned  perforce  as 
obsolescent,  and  replaced  almost  entirely  by  local  enact- 
ments based  upon  the  existing  circumstances  of  the 
colony  or  founded  upon  English  statutes,  and  the  Roman- 
Dutch  common  law,  broadly  speaking,  came  to  be 
administered  concurrently  with  English  common  law. 
Nor  was  it  surprising  that,  with  judges  and  advocates 
alike  versed  in  the  decisions  and  practice  of  the  English 
Courts,  English  principles  were  more  and  more  closely 
woven  into  the  fabric  of  the  Colonial  law.  And  apart 
from  the  influence  of  the  "  case-law,"  thus  built  up 
through  the  Colonial  Reports,  circumstances — or  rather 
its  greater  capacity  to  satisfy  the  conditions  of  modern 

438 


LAW,  ORDER  AND  DEFENCE 

life — gave  the  regulation  of  the  field  of  commercial  inter- 
course almost  exclusively  to  English  law.  This  gradual 
adoption  of  English  legal  principles  and  statute  law 
would  naturally  have  been  a  regular  accompaniment  of 
the  expansion  of  the  European  race  in  the  sub-continent ; 
but  the  process  was  interrupted  by  the  change  of  policy, 
which,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  led,  in  Sir 
George  Grey's  words,  to  the  "  dismemberment "  of 
European  South  Africa.  From  the  establishment  of  the 
two  Dutch  Republics,  and  the  erection  of  Natal  into  a 
separate  British  colony,  has  arisen  what  may  be  termed 
the  "  unequal  penetration  "  of  the  Roman-Dutch  law 
by  English  law.  Not  only  is  the  statute  law  different  in 
each  of  the  four  provinces,  but  the  case  law  is  divergent : 
that  is  to  say,  even  where  the  same  statutes  and  prin- 
ciples of  law  have  been  recognised,  a  different  interpreta- 
tion has  been  placed  upon  them  by  the  judges  of  the 
respective  colonies. 

Thus,  two  processes  are  necessary  to  make  one  law  for 
the  Union  as  a  whole.  The  Legislature  must  consolidate 
the  statute  law,  and  the  Court  of  Appeal  must  reconcile 
the  case  law,  of  the  four  provinces.  The  Union  Parlia- 
ment has  made  already  an  energetic  beginning  of  the  first 
process ;  since  eleven  out  of  the  forty-five  enactments 
of  the  first  session  (1910-11)  were,  directly  or  indirectly, 
consolidating  laws.  That  the  Court  of  Appeal  will  not 
fail  to  carry  out  the  second  process  would  appear  from 
the  words  used  by  the  Chief  Justice  in  a  recent  case. * 
The  Natal  judges  had  held  that  a  landlord's  lien 
(hypothec)  held  good  against  a  tenant's  goods,  even 
when  removed  from  the  premises  to  the  hands  of  an 
innocent  third  party,  provided  there  was  a  "  quick  pur- 
suit." No  other  South  African  court,  however,  had 
accepted  the  Natal  doctrine,  and  the  question  for  the 
Court  of  Appeal  (said  Lord  De  Villiers)  was  whether  it 

1  Webster  v.  Ellison;  heard  early  in  1911. 

439 

39— (2139) 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

should  be  maintained  "  so  far,  at  all  events,  as  the  pro- 
vince of  Natal  was  concerned."  His  answer  to  this 
question  is  an  emphatic  assertion  of  the  unifying  mission 
of  the  Court  of  Appeal. 

There  is  no  reason,  either  of  convenience  or  justice  (he  said) 
for  applying  the  maxim  communis  error  facit  jus  to  a  case  like 
the  present.  Under  the  South  Africa  Act,  the  laws  of  the  different 
provinces  are  preserved,  but  this  Court  as  the  Court  of  Appeal 
for  the  Union,  cannot  support  any  doctrine  introduced  into  any 
particular  province  merely  because  it  has  found  general  accept- 
ance there  for  a  certain  number  of  years.  If  the  doctrine  is  at 
variance  with  the  common  law  of  South  Africa,  and  if  its  disuse 
in  the  province  in  which  it  has  been  applied  would  not  unsettle 
past  transactions,  it  should  not  be  upheld. 1 

That  the  task,  thus  begun,  should  prove  to  be  lengthy 
as  well  as  arduous,  is  only  to  be  expected.  Apart  from 
the  statutes  and  the  case  law,  the  existing  differences  of 
legal  system  and  procedure,  which  include  such  matters 
as  the  powers  and  conditions  of  service  of  magistrates, 
and  variations  in  the  remuneration  assigned  to  jurors 
and  witnesses,  have  to  be  removed. 

Writing  from  this  point  of  view,  and  having  in  mind 
the  financial  and  administrative  economies  to  be  secured, 
the  Secretary  for  Justice  remarks  : 2 

The  first  years  of  Union  will  require  an  immense  amount  of 
harmonising  and  unifying,  the  continuation  of  the  four  divergent 
provincial  systems  prevailing  at  the  date  of  the  Union  being 
neither  expedient  nor  economical.  In  a  number  of  directions, 
however,  these  systems  are  fixed  by  statute,  and  it  will  require 
a  Union  Act  to  sweep  them  away.  Economy  of  administration 
can,  therefore,  necessarily  only  be  gradual. 

THE  UNION  DEPARTMENT  OF  JUSTICE 
An  excellent  account  of  the  work  of  the  Ministry  of 
Justice  is  given  in  the  Report  from  which  the  above 
passage  has  been  taken  : 

The  Department  of  Justice,  controlled  by  the  Minister  of 
Justice,  embraces  for  administrative  purposes  the  Superior 

1  4  Buch.  A.C.,  p.  343. 

2  Annual  Report  of  the  Department  of  Justice  for  1910. 

440 


DEPARTMENT   OF    JUSTICE 

Courts,  the  Magistrates'  Courts,  Masters  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  Police  Sub-Department,  the  Prisons  Sub-Department  (includ- 
ing reformatories  and  industrial  schools),  the  Sub-Departments 
of  Patents,  Trade-marks,  Copyrights,  Designs,  and  Companies, 
also  Special  and  other  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  Liquor  Licensing 
Courts.  It  administers  an  expenditure  of  £2,543,493  of  the 
public  moneys  per  annum  and  controls  12,125  officers.  At  the 
date  of  the  Union  it  had  the  following  head  office  staffs  in  the 
various  provinces  :  51  in  the  Transvaal,  35  in  the  Cape,  18  in 
Natal,  and  11  in  the  Orange  Free  State.  The  Superior  Courts 
in  the  Provinces  consist  of  the  following  :  9  judges  in  the  Cape, 
8  in  Natal,  7  in  the  Transvaal,  3  in  the  Free  State,  and  an  Appeal 
Court,  or  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  Bloem- 
fontein,  consisting  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  South  Africa  and  two 
permanent  or  ordinary  judges,  and  two  additional  judges  of 
appeal.  The  Superior  Courts  staffs  in  the  Provinces  consist  of 
44  officers  in  the  Cape,  37  in  Natal,  39  in  the  Transvaal,  11  in 
the  Free  State,  and  3  attached  to  the  Appeal  Court.  Under 
Superior  Courts  the  two  Union  executioners  are  also  classed. 
With  regard  to  magistrates,  the  Department  controls  91  magis- 
trates, 23  assistant  magistrates,  and  269  magistrates'  clerks  in 
the  Cape  ;  26  magistrates,  17  assistant  magistrates,  and  259 
magistrates'  clerks  in  the  Transvaal ;  43  magistrates,  5  assistant 
magistrates,  and  237  magistrates'  clerks  in  Natal ;  and  25 
magistrates,  12  assistant  magistrates,  and  122  magistrates' 
clerks  in  the  Free  State  ;  or  for  the  Union  a  total  of  185  magis- 
trates, 57  assistant  magistrates,  and  887  magisterial  officers. 
With  the  advent  of  Union,  four  Attorney-Generals  were  appointed 
in  the  four  Provinces,  in  whom,  in  terms  of  the  South  Africa  Act 
of  Union,  the  prosecution  of  crimes  and  offences  is  vested.  The 
criminal  staffs  of  the  former  Attorneys-General  have  been 
attached  to  them.  The  Secretary  to  the  Law  Department  of 
Natal  was  appointed  Attorney-General  in  Natal,  the  Secretary 
to  the  Law  Department  (Orange  Free  State)  was  appointed 
Acting  Under-Secretary  for  that  Province,  and  the  Secretaries 
of  the  Cape  and  Transvaal  Provinces  were  respectively  appointed 
Acting  Secretaries  for  Justice  for  the  Union,  Legal  and 
Administrative . 

JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE 

In  addition  to  the  185  magistrates  and  57  assistant- 
magistrates  mentioned  in  the  above  statement,  who  are, 
of  course,  salaried  officials,  and  whose  duties  are  fre- 
quently administrative  as  well  as  judicial,  there  are  a 
large  number  of  justices  of  the  peace.  They  are  of  two 

441 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

classes  :  Special  or  resident,  and  justices  without  judicial 
functions. 

The  justices  of  the  first  class  are  paid  for  their  services, 
and  they  have  jurisdiction  in  criminal  cases.  At  the 
time  of  the  Union  their  powers  varied  in  the  four  pro- 
vinces, ranging  from  power  to  inflict  a  maximum  fine  of 
£25  and  a  maximum  term  of  imprisonment  of  two  months, 
to  power  to  inflict  a  maximum  fine  of  £2  and  a  maximum 
term  of  imprisonment  of  one  month.  Of  this  class  of 
justices,  in  1910,  there  were  30  in  the  Transvaal,  17  in 
the  Cape,  16  in  the  Free  State,  and  3  in  Natal ;  or  66  in  all. 

The  justices  of  the  second  class  are  much  more  numerous, 
but  their  duties  are  confined  practically  to  attesting  sworn 
statements,  and,  when  appointed,  sitting  as  members  of 
Liquor  Licensing  Courts.  In  1910  they  numbered  4,132 
in  all,  and  were  distributed  among  the  several  provinces 
fairly  evenly  on  a  basis  of  the  respective  populations. 

THE  POLICE 

The  Police  are  a  sub-department  of  the  Ministry  of 
Justice  ;  and  in  1911-12  numbered  8,743  men,  main- 
tained at  an  annual  cost  of  £1,324,510.  Under  the  Police 
and  Defence  Acts  of  1912,  however,  the  Force  will  be 
reconstituted,  and  in  particular  the  mounted  element 
will  form  the  basis  of  the  Permanent  Defence  Force  of 
the  Union.  The  Police  Force,  as  provided  for  in  the 
1911-12  Estimates,  is  as  follows  : 

The  headquarters  staff  consists  of  the  Chief  Commis- 
sioner of  Police  for  the  Union  (who  is  in  the  present 
instance  the  Commissioner  of  Police  for  the  Transvaal 
Province),  a  Secretary,  a  Chief  Paymaster  and  Accountant, 
and  a  Controller  of  Supplies  and  Transport. 

The  Police  of  the  Cape  Province  are  divided  into  :  (1) 
The  Cape  Mounted  Police  ;  (2)  the  Urban  Police,  serving 
the  Metropolitan  district  of  the  Cape  Peninsula  ;  (3)  the 

442 


THE   POLICE 

Rural  Police  ;  and  (4)  the  Diamond  Detective  Depart- 
ment at  Kimberley.  Of  these  bodies,  the  first  is,  with 
the  exception  of  some  30  men,  a  distinctively  mounted 
force  ;  it  has  391  European  privates,  132  native  privates, 
and  a  total  strength  of  734  men,  with  the  Commissioner 
of  Police  for  the  province  at  its  head.  In  the  Urban 
Police  are  included  46  sergeants,  319  constables,  32 
detectives,  and  a  finger-print  expert.  Of  the  Rural 
Police — about  1,000  strong — 328  are  district  mounted 
troopers  and  157  coloured  constables.  The  Diamond 
Detective  Department  comprises  the  Chief  of  the 
Detective  Department,  who  is  also  Commissioner  of 
Urban  Police  for  the  Kimberley  District,  a  female  searcher, 
16  sergeants,  and  88  constables,  etc. 

The  Police  of  Natal  include  a  Chief  Commissioner  for 
the  province,  inspectors,  detectives,  68  non-commissioned 
officers,  a  force  of  594  troopers,  100  Indian  and  104 
native  constables.  There  are  two  special  bodies :  The 
Railway  Police  and  the  Water  Police.  The  cost  of  main- 
taining the  former  is  shared  between  the  Government 
and  the  Railway  Commissioners,  and  it  consists  of  a 
superintendent,  11  European  and  34  native  constables. 
The  Water  Police,  whose  services  are  required  for  Durban 
harbour,  comprise  22  European  and  64  native  constables, 
etc. 

The  Chief  Commissioner  of  Police  has  at  his  disposal 
in  the  Transvaal  Province,  3  Deputy  Commissioners,  15 
inspectors,  23  sub-inspectors,  34  superintendents,  161 
sergeants,  93  corporals,  1,776  constables,  72  detectives, 
30  shoeing  smiths,  13  female  warders,  etc.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  police  in  this,  and  in  the  Free  State 
Province,  are  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the  South  African 
Constabulary — the  mounted  and  semi-military  force 
which,  under  the  Crown  Colony  administration,  had 
attained  a  high  state  of  efficiency.  There  is  also  a  large 
native  establishment,  which  is  required  to  maintain 

443 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

order  both  in  the  native  districts  and  among  the 
numerous  bodies  of  native  labourers  employed  in  the 
industrial  centres.  It  comprises  47  head-constables,  107 
corporals,  912  constables,  and  169  labourers,  drivers,  etc. 
The  police  force  in  the  Free  State  Province  is  com- 
posed of  the  Commissioner  of  Police  for  the  province,  a 
sub-commissioner,  22  superintendent  head-constables,  3 
head-constables,  17  sergeants,  35  corporals,  397  con- 
stables, and  17  detectives  ;  together  with  178  native  con- 
stables, 10  native  detectives,  and  50  native  drivers  and 
labourers,  etc. 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  DEFENCE 

The  bill  embodying  the  proposals  for  the  creation  of 
a  Citizen  Army,  prepared  by  General  Smuts,  who  is 
Minister  of  Defence  as  well  as  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
passed  its  third  reading  in  the  House  of  Assembly  on 
May  6th,  1912.  Before  discussing  these  proposals, 
however,  it  will  be  useful  to  notice  the  nature  of  the 
defence  forces  which  will  be  superseded  by  the  new 
Defence  Act. 

Again  taking  the  Estimates  as  the  source  of  informa- 
tion, we  find  that  the  sum  voted  for  the  defence  of  the 
Union  in  the  year  1911-12  was  £440,699.  The  Forces 
for  which  provision  was  made  were  :  The  District  Head- 
quarters Staffs,  the  Cape  Mounted  Riflemen,  the  Militia 
and  Volunteers,  and  the  Cadets.  And,  exclusive  of  this 
provision,  various  sums  were  voted  for  "  special  services." 
Of  these  forces,  those  comprised  under  the  first  two  heads 
represented,  with  the  exception  of  the  Cape  Garrison 
Artillery,  the  permanent  and  professional  element.  The 
strength  of  the  District  Head-quarters  Staffs  was  266, 
and  the  total  strength  of  the  Cape  Mounted  Rifles  was 
736 — roughly,  1,000  in  all.  The  C.M.R.  was  composed 
of  a  colonel  commanding,  a  major,  5  captains,  18  lieu- 
tenants, 550  warrant  and  non-commissioned  officers  and 

444 


MILITARY    FORCES 

riflemen,  70  native  troopers,  63  native  detectives,  20 
native  artillery  drivers,  a  paymaster  and  quartermaster, 
an  instructor  in  gunnery  and  officer  commanding  the 
artillery  troop,  a  surgeon-captain,  a  bandmaster,  and 
four  native  hospital  attendants.  The  annual  cost  of 
these  two  forces  was  respectively  £64,981  and  £126,093. 

The  Militia  and  Volunteer  Corps,  which  the  Union  took 
over  from  the  four  colonies,  included  a  large  percentage 
of  men  who  had  fought  in  the  war,  and,  in  particular,  the 
survivors  of  the  fine  bodies  of  Irregular  troops  raised  from 
among  the  dispersed  British  population  of  the  Rand. 
The  provision  for  these  voluntary  forces — £111,370 — 
included  :  Pay  and  allowances,  £5,640  ;  capitation  grants, 
£29,500  ;  horse  and  special  allowances,  £37,440  ;  ranges, 
£5,140  ;  camps  of  exercise  and  bivouacs,  £13,620.  And 
a  further  provision  of  £5,250  for  grants  to  rifle  associa- 
tions, out  of  which  £1,000  was  allocated  to  the  Transvaal 
Bisley,  was  made  under  the  head  of  "  Special  Services." 

For  the  Cadets,  who  numbered  some  11,000  in  1911, 
£19,645  was  provided.  This  total  was  made  up  of : 
Capitation  grants,  £13,000  ;  ammunition,  £2,350  ;  and 
camps  of  exercise,  £2,175.  The  Cadet  system,  it  may 
be  added,  has  been  developed  with  great  success  in  Natal, 
and  to  a  less  degree  in  the  Transvaal. 

Under  the  head  of  "  Special  Services,"  £85,000  was 
provided  as  a  contribution  to  the  British  Navy,  £18,160 
for  the  fixed  defences  of  Table  Bay,  and  a  non-recurrent 
£10,000  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Union  contingent 
sent  to  attend  the  Coronation  of  their  Majesties,  King 
George  V  and  Queen  Mary. 

THE  CITIZEN  ARMY 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  the  European 
inhabitants  of  the  Union,  some  1,250,000  in  all,  comprise 
an  exceptionally  large  proportion  of  men  experienced  in 
the  actual  business  of  war.  The  splendid  devotion  with 

445 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

which  the  entire  male  population  of  the  former  Republics, 
with  the  exception  of  very  young  boys  and  very  old  men, 
took  the  field  is  not  likely  to  have  been  forgotten  ;  but 
what,  perhaps,  is  less  fully  realised  is  the  fact  that  of 
the  small  British  population  of  South  Africa,  no  less  than 
46,858  fought  for  the  Empire.1  The  Union,  therefore, 
has,  perhaps,  better  material  for  the  creation  of  a  national 
army,  proportionate  to  its  population,  than  any  other 
civilised  country. 

The  scheme  embodied  in  the  Defence  Bill  is  said  to 
have  been  modelled  upon  the  Swiss  system,  but,  how- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  Imperial  authori- 
ties— both  central  and  local — have  been  taken  into  con- 
sultation ;  and  in  formulating  his  proposals,  General 
Smuts  has  had  the  active  assistance  of  Field-Marshal 
Lord  Methuen,  the  term  of  whose  service  as  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Imperial  Forces  of  South  Africa  was  pro- 
longed for  the  purpose,  and  of  Rear-Admiral  Bush,  the 
Commander  of  the  South  African  Naval  Station.  The 
basis  of  the  scheme  is,  of  course,  the  recognition  of  the 
obligation  of  every  able-bodied  citizen  to  bear  arms  in 
defence  of  his  country,  and  of  the  corresponding  duty  of 
the  State  to  provide  its  citizens  with  the  training,  without 
which  this  obligation  cannot  be  effectively  discharged. 
The  measure  itself,  however,  provides  for  only  a  partial 
application  of  this  principle.  In  the  first  place,  the 
defence  of  the  Union  by  sea  is  to  be  entrusted  for  all 
practical  purposes,  and,  as  heretofore,  to  the  Imperial 
Navy  ;  and,  in  the  second,  not  the  whole  of  the  available 
manhood  of  the  country,  but  only  so  much  of  it  as,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Government,  is  sufficient  to  meet  the 


1  The  British  Irregulars  raised  in  South  Africa  were  even  more 
numerous,  being,  according  to  the  Report  of  the  War  Commis- 
sion, between  50,000  and  60,000.  See  Lord  Milner's  Work  in 
South  Africa,  1897-1902,  Chap.  VII,  p.  324.  (By  the  writer, 
Murray,  1906.) 

446 


THE   DEFENCE   ACT 

requirements  of  the  moment  for  land  defence,  is  to  be 
placed  under  effective  military  training.  As  the  result 
of  these  limitations,  the  Union  will  be  provided  for  the 
present  with  a  small  Permanent  Force  and  Citizen  Force, 
together  capable  of  dealing  successfully  with  any  dis- 
turbances, concerted  or  otherwise,  likely  to  arise  among 
the  native  population,  but  not  calculated  to  repel  a  foreign 
invader  advancing  by  land,  or  one  who  may  have  effected 
a  landing  after  defeating,  or  eluding,  the  Imperial  Navy. 
On  the  other  hand,  General  Smuts'  proposals,  although 
they  contemplate  only  a  limited  application  of  the  root 
principle  of  the  scheme,  have  two  undoubted  merits. 
They  make  a  judicious  and  immediate  use  of  the  existing 
military  and  semi-military  material  and  organisations  ; 
and  they  provide,  though  they  do  not  set  in  motion,  the 
machinery  for  the  more  complete  utilisation  of  the 
European  fighting  strength  of  the  country.  Moreover, 
if  financial  considerations  are  to  be  brought  into  the 
account,  General  Smuts'  proposals  must  be  credited  with 
the  further  merit  of  economy,  since  it  is  estimated  that 
the  annual  provision  required  to  give  effect  to  them  will 
not  exceed  the  existing  provisions  for  defence  and  for 
the  mounted  element  in  the  police  forces  by  more  than 
some  £500,000. l 

The  Defence  Forces  of  the  Union,  as  established  under 
the  South  Africa  Defence  Act,  1912,  are : 

I.     The  Permanent  Force. 
II.     The  Coast  Garrison  Force. 

1  In  moving  the  second  reading  of  the  Defence  Bill  on 
February  2nd,  1912,  General  Smuts  told  the  House  of  Assembly 
that  the  total  annual  cost  of  the  scheme  would  be  £1,1 72, 000, 
of  which  £852,000  was  provided  already  for  existing  services. 
But  at  the  third  reading  (May  6th)  he  stated  that  the  payment 
of  the  members  of  the  Active  Citizen  Force,  and  the  establishment 
of  an  Aviation  School  (amendments  made  in  Select  Committee), 
would  raise  the  net  additional  expenditure  to  an  approximate 
£500,000  per  annum. 

447 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

III.  The  Citizen  Force. 

IV.  The  Royal  Naval  Volunteer  Reserve. 

V.     The  Veteran  Reserve  and  any  other  Special  Reserve 
established  under  the  Act. 


MILITARY  SERVICE  AND  PEACE  TRAINING 

The  following  obligations  in  respect  of  military  service 
and  peace  training  are  laid  upon  the  citizens  of  the  Union 
by  the  Defence  Act : 


Nature  of  Obligation. 


Citizens  Liable. 


1 .  To  render  in  time  of  war  personal  ser- 

vice in  defence  of  the  Union  in  any 
part  of  South  Africa,  whether  within 
or  outside  the  Union. 

2.  To  complete  four  years'  peace  training 

for  military  service  in  the  Defence 
Forces  of  the  Union. 

3.  To  serve  as  a  member  of  a  Rifle  Associa- 

tion from  their  21st  year  for  four 
consecutive  years. 


4.  To  be  trained  as  a  Cadet  in  appointed 
urban,  and  other  populous  areas 
where  proper  facilities  for  such  train- 
ing can  conveniently  be  arranged. 


All  between  17  and 
60  years  of  age 
(both  inclusive). 

All  between  21  and 
25  years  (both  in- 
clusive) . 

All  liable  to  the 
four  years'  peace 
training,  who  in 
their  21st  year 
have  not  been 
entered  for  that 
training. 

All  boys  between 
13  and  17  years 
(both  inclusive)  ; 
subject  however  to 
the  principle  of 
parental  option. 


The  Act  further  provides  : 

(a)  In  respect  of  obligation  3  (rifle  training) ,  that  every  citizen 
liable  to  War  Service  (Obligation  1)  may  engage  voluntarily    to 
serve  as  a  member  of  a  Rifle  Association. 

(b)  If  a  South  African  Division  of  the  Royal  Naval  Volunteer 
Reserve  is  established,  that  every  citizen  entered  for  service  in 

448 


THE    PERMANENT   FORCE 

such  Division  will  be  deemed  to  fulfil  Obligation  1,  and  every 
citizen  trained  in  the  Division  will  be  deemed  to  fulfil  Obligation  2.1 

THE  PERMANENT  FORCE 

The  Permanent  Force,  for  which  the  Act  makes 
provision,  consists  of : 

(a)  Persons  engaged  for  continuous  service  in  the  organisation 
and  training  of  the  Defence  Forces  ;   and 

(b)  Mounted     troops    charged    in    time    of     peace    with    the 
maintenance  of  order  within  the  Union. 

The  mounted  troops  are  to  comprise  five  or  more 
regiments  of  South  African  Mounted  Rifles,  and  any 
other  regiments  or  corps  for  which  Parliament  may  pro- 
vide. The  Cape  Mounted  Riflemen  will  form  the  first 
regiment  of  the  new  force,  and  the  Cape  Mounted  Police, 
the  Cape  District  Mounted  Police,  and  the  Natal,  Trans- 
vaal, and  Orange  River  Colony  Police  will  provide  the 
material  of  the  remaining  regiments.  Any  portion  of 
these  mounted  police  forces  that  is  not  required  for  the 
Permanent  Force  will  be  transferred,  if  necessary,  to  the 
South  African  Police  (established  under  the  Police  Act 
of  1912).  Each  of  the  regiments  of  the  mounted  troops 
is  to  be  so  organised  that  a  permanent  battery  of 
artillery  forms  a  component  part  of  it,  and  that  as  many 
members  as  possible  of  the  regiment  may  be  trained 
efficiently  in  field  artillery  duties,  in  addition  to  their 
duties  as  mounted  riflemen.  In  time  of  peace,  each 
regiment  will  be  assigned  to  a  particular  district  of  the 
Union,  and  the  South  African  Mounted  Riflemen,  as  a 
whole,  will  be  employed  in  maintaining  order ;  and  for 
the  discharge  of  this  duty  each  member  will  have  the 

1  Draft  Bill  [A.B.  7-' 12]  printed  by  the  Union  Government. 
These  obligations  are,  of  course,  subject  to  the  customary  exemp- 
tions (ministers  of  religion,  Members  of  Parliament,  etc.,  and 
medically  certified  unfitness) .  In  this  account  of  the  Defence  Act 
the  writer  has  endeavoured  to  incorporate  the  amendments  made 
in  Select  Committee,  as  reported  by  cable  in  The  Times,  into  the 
original  Draft. 

449 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

customary  powers  and  obligations  of  a  police  officer  or 
constable. 

THE  COAST  GARRISON  FORCE 

The  purpose  of  this  force  is  to  provide  for  the  efficient 
protection  of  the  defended  ports  of  the  Union.  It  is  to 
consist  of  the  South  African  Garrison  Artillery,  the  South 
African  Coast  Defence  Corps,  and  any  other  corps  for 
which  Parliament  may  make  provision.  The  first  division 
of  the  Garrison  Artillery  will  be  formed  by  the  existing 
Volunteer  Corps  of  the  Cape  Garrison  Artillery  ;  and  the 
Coast  Defence  Corps  is  to  be  composed  of  citizens  trained 
specially  to  engineer,  signalling  and  telegraphy,  or  harbour 
control  duties.  Provision  is  made  in  the  Act  for  (1)  the 
payment  of  members  of  this  force  who  have  attained 
proficiency  ;  and  (2)  the  training  and  acting  of  the  force 
as  a  whole,  if  and  when  necessary,  in  conjunction  with 
H.M.  Regular  Forces  stationed  in  the  Union. 

THE  CITIZEN  FORCE 

The  Citizen  Force  is  to  consist  of  all  persons  liable  to 
military  service  not  being  members  of  the  Permanent 
Force,  the  Coast  Garrison  Force,  the  Veteran  Reserve,  or 
the  Royal  Naval  Volunteer  Reserve.  It  comprises  three 
divisions : 

I.     The  Active  Citizen  Force. 
II.     The  Citizen  Force  Reserve. 
III.     The  National  Reserve. 

The  members  of  this  Force,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Active  Citizen  Force  during  training,  are  not  entitled  to 
be  paid  for  their  services  during  peace ;  but  they  may 
receive  such  pay  and  allowances,  etc.,  as  may  be 
prescribed. 

THE  ACTIVE  CITIZEN  FORCE 

The  Active  Citizen  Force  is  to  consist  of  men  between 
the  ages  of  21  and  25  (who  have  been  entered  for,  or  are 
undergoing,  the  four  years'  peace  training.  The  four 

450 


THE   ACTIVE   CITIZEN    FORCE 

years  of  training  in  all  cases  must  be  consecutive,  but 
permission  to  complete  one  or  more  additional  years  may 
be  obtained.  The  force  is  to  be  organised  by  units  of 
the  various  combatant  arms  (Artillery,  Engineer,  Mounted 
Rifles,  or  Infantry),  and  by  departmental  services 
(Medical, Transport  and  Supply,  Veterinary  or  Ordinance), 
as  may  be  established.  And,  as  far  as  practicable,  the 
organisation  of  every  unit  of  a  combatant  arm  or  depart- 
mental service  is  to  be  arranged  territorially,  in  order 
that  the  several  units  may  be  composed  of  citizens 
residing  in  the  same  districts,  and  that  a  group  of  units 
in  the  same  or  adjoining  districts  may  constitute  a  field 
force  properly  equipped  to  take  the  field. 

The  length  of  the  annual  training  in  camp  is  30  days  for 
the  first  year,  and  21  days  for  the  three  following  years. 
Subject  to  this  the  nature  and  number  of  the  drills,  rifle 
or  gun  practices,  camps  and  manoeuvres,  to  be  performed 
by  each  member  of  the  Active  Citizen  Force  (or  the 
Coast  Garrison  Force)  are  to  be  prescribed  by  the  military 
authorities  of  the  Union. 

In  moving  the  second  reading  of  the  Act,  General  Smuts 
stated  that  the  total  strength  of  the  Active  Citizen  Force 
would  be  fixed  at  the  outset  at  24,000,  with  a  yearly  levy 
of  6,000  recruits  to  balance  the  passing  out  of  the  same 
number  of  men  into  the  Citizen  Force  Reserve. 

For  administrative  purposes,  the  Act  provides  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Council  of  Defence  under  the  Minister 
of  Defence,  a  Head-quarter  Staff  of  the  Defence  Forces, 
and  for  the  division  of  the  Union  into  military  districts 
and  sub-districts,  in  each  of  which  Instructional  and 
Administrative  Staffs  are  to  be  appointed  as  required. 
The  Council  of  Defence  consists  of  four  members  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor-General  in  Council  and  the 
Minister  of  Defence.  It  is  to  meet  within  one  month 
of  the  passing  of  the  Act,  and  henceforward  once  at  least 
in  every  six  months.  It  must  be  consulted  and  advise 

451 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

collectively  upon  all  questions  arising  out  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Act,  and  upon  the  appointment  and 
dismissal  of  officers. 

The  steps  by  which  the  Active  Citizen  Force  is  first  to 
be  brought  into  being,  and  then  maintained  at  its  required 
strength,  are  these.  All  existing  militia  and  volunteer 
corps  are  to  be  embodied  and  trained  as  part  of  the  Active 
Citizen  Force,  provided  (a)  a  due  proportion  of  the 
members  of  the  respective  corps  engage  to  serve  and 
undergo  training  for  not  less  than  twelve  months  ;  (b) 
a  due  proportion  of  other  citizens  enter  voluntarily  for 
the  four  years'  Peace  Training.  If  these  conditions  are 
fulfilled,  the  identity  of  these  existing  corps,  with  their 
honourable  traditions  of  past  service,  will  be  preserved. 
Any  corps  in  respect  of  which  these  conditions  are  not 
fulfilled  will  be  disbanded  as  prescribed  in  the  Act ;  but 
provision  is  made  for  allowing  any  members  of  existing 
Militia  or  Volunteer  corps,  or  of  Reserve  or  Cadet 
organisations,  to  be  transferred  at  their  own  request  to 
the  Active  Citizen  Force,  or  an  equivalent  Defence  Force. 
During  the  month  of  January  next  following  the  coming 
into  operation  of  the  Act,  and  during  the  same  month  in 
subsequent  years,  all  citizens  of  the  age  of  21  will  be 
required  to  register  themselves.  On  the  succeeding 
April  15th  in  each  year  the  number  of  citizens  liable 
to  be  called  upon  for  Peace  Training  in  each  military 
district  or  sub-district,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  full  strength 
of  the  Active  Citizen  Force,  will  be  proclaimed  in  the 
Government  Gazette.  If  the  required  number  is  not 
obtained  by  voluntary  offers  of  service,  then  the  deficiency 
will  be  made  good  by  a  compulsory  levy  from  the  roll  of 
citizens  as  thus  registered  ;  and  if  the  number  on  the 
roll  is  greater  than  the  deficiency  to  be  made  good, 
citizens  to  the  requisite  number  will  be  chosen  by  ballot. 
It  is  anticipated,  however,  that  the  6,000  recruits  annually 
required  will  be  obtained  by  the  voluntary  enlistment  of 

452 


THE   NATIONAL    RESERVE 

Cadets  and  other  citizens,  and  that  the  need  to  put  in 
force  the  provisions  for  compulsory  enlistment  for  Peace 
Training  will  not  arise. 

THE  CITIZEN  FORCE  RESERVE 

The  Citizen  Force  Reserve  is  to  be  constituted  of  two 
classes  :  A  and  B.  Of  these,  the  former  consists  of  all 
citizens  not  older  than  45  who  have  undergone  the  four 
years'  Peace  Training,  and  the  latter,  of  all  citizens  not 
older  than  45,  who  are  serving,  or  have  completed  their 
service,  as  members  of  a  Rifle  Association.  Members  of 
Class  A,  unless  engaged  for  the  Field  Reserve  of  the 
South  African  Mounted  Riflemen,  are  to  be  reservists  to 
the  unit  of  the  Active  Citizen  Force,  in  which  they 
received  their  Peace  Training.  Members  of  Class  B, 
unless  engaged  for  the  Police  Reserve  of  the  South 
African  Mounted  Riflemen,  are  to  be  reservists  to  the 
unit  of  that  arm  or  service  for  which  their  avocations  and 
circumstances  respectively  render  them  most  suitable. 

All  members  of  this  Force  are  liable,  when  called  upon, 
to  present  themselves  once  annually  for  inspection. 

THE  NATIONAL  RESERVE 

The  National  Reserve  is  to  be  constituted  of  all 
citizens,  who,  not  being  members  of  any  other  portion  of 
the  Defence  Forces  of  the  Union,  are  not  younger  than 
17  nor  older  than  60,  and  are,  therefore,  liable  to  military 
service  in  time  of  war.  In  the  event  of  this  Force  being 
called  out,  each  member  is  required  to  serve  as  he  may 
be  assigned,  whether  in  a  unit  of  the  combatant  arm  or 
in  a  departmental  service,  or  otherwise. 

THE  ROYAL  NAVAL  VOLUNTEER  RESERVE 

Provision  is  made  for  raising  a  body  of  Volunteers  in 

pursuance  of  the  Colonial  Naval  Defence  Acts,  1865  and 

1909  (Great  Britain  and  Ireland),  to  be  entered  on  the 

terms  of  being  bound  to  general  service  in  the  Royal 

453 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Navy  in  case  of  emergency.  If,  and  when,  raised,  this 
body  will  be  called  the  South  African  Division  of  the 
Royal  Naval  Volunteer  Reserve,  and  will  form  a  part  of 
the  Royal  Naval  Reserve  constituted  under  the  Naval 
Forces  Act,  1903  (Great  Britain  and  Ireland).  The 
Division  will  be  maintained  by  the  Union  Government, 
by  whom  it  may  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  His  Majesty. 
The  Act  also  makes  provision  for  the  formation  of  a 
Reserve  of  Officers  for  the  Defence  Forces,  a  Veteran 
Reserve,  and  for  the  establishment  of  Field  and  Police 
Reserves  for  the  South  African  Mounted  Riflemen.  Of 
these  two  latter,  the  first  is  to  be  composed  of  citizens 
(1)  who  have  completed  their  period  of  engagement  as 
active  members  of  the  Permanent  Force  ;  or  (2)  who  are 
enrolled  as  members  of  Class  A  of  the  Citizen  Force 
Reserve,  or  who,  being  suitable,  engage  themselves  for 
the  Field  Reserve.  The  Police  Reserve  is  to  be  formed  out 
of  members  of  Class  B  of  the  Citizen  Force  Reserve,  who 
are  not  less  than  30  years  of  age  and  otherwise  suitable. 
All  members  of  the  Field  Reserves  will  be  liable  in  time 
of  war  to  be  called  upon  to  serve  in  the  Permanent  Force. 

THE  RIFLE  ASSOCIATIONS 

Every  citizen  liable  to  Peace  Training,  who  being  in 
his  twenty-first  year  has  not  been  entered  for  such 
training,  must  be  enrolled  as  a  member  of  a  Rifle  Associa- 
tion on  July  1st,  and  undergo  annually  a  prescribed 
course  of  instruction  and  exercise  in  the  care  and  use  of 
the  rifle,  and  in  the  rudiments  of  drill  until  June  30th  in 
his  twenty-fifth  year.  Every  other  citizen  liable  to  per- 
sonal service  in  time  of  war,  not  being  a  member  of  the 
Permanent,  Coast  Garrison,  or  Active  Citizen  Forces, 
may  engage  voluntarily  to  serve  as  a  member  of  a  Rifle 
Association.  The  members  of  the  Rifle  Associations  are 
to  be  allowed  to  elect  their  own  officers,  in  the  manner 
of  the  Burgher  Commando  ;  and  each  member  will  be 

454 


MILITARY    INSTRUCTION 

entitled  to  receive  a  rifle,  which  remains,  however,  the 
property  of  the  State,  and  an  annual  free  issue  of  suitable 
ammunition. 

THE  CADET  TRAINING 

In  appointed  Cadet-training  areas,  subject  to  the 
exercise  of  the  principle  of  parental  option,  all  boys 
between  the  ages  of  13  and  16  are  to  be  registered  in  the 
year  in  which  the  Act  comes  into  operation,  and  in  sub- 
sequent years  all  boys  who  attain  their  thirteenth  year. 
The  boys  thus  registered  (with  the  exception  of  the 
medically  unfit)  will  receive  normally  a  four  years'  course 
of  training  in  the  Cadet  corps ;  but  a  certificate  of  effi- 
ciency, which  will  exempt  the  holder  from  recruit  training 
on  joining  the  Active  Citizen  Force,  may  be  acquired  after 
three  years.  All  necessary  arms,  etc.,  will  be  supplied 
to  the  Cadets  at  the  public  expense. 

MILITARY  INSTRUCTION 

Military  instruction  and  training  are  to  be  given  to 
members  of  the  Defence  Forces  in  English  or  Dutch,  the 
language  chosen  being  that  with  which  the  persons  under 
instruction  are  the  more  familiar  ;  but  all  ranks  are  to 
be  taught  to  give  and  receive  the  executive  words  of  com- 
mand in  both  English  and  Dutch.  The  material  for  the 
Head-quarter  Staff  and  the  Administrative  and  Instruc- 
tional Staffs  of  the  several  military  districts  and  sub- 
districts  will  be  drawn,  no  doubt,  largely  at  first  from  the 
existing  head-quarters  staffs  ;  but  provision  is  made  for 
securing  a  supply  of  officers  in  the  future  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  South  African  Military  College.  This  institu- 
tion, although  conducted  at  first  upon  the  simplest  lines, 
will  be  capable  of  expansion  as  circumstances  may  require. 
In  moving  the  second  reading  of  the  Bill,  General  Smuts 
announced  that  a  School  of  Instruction  would  be  opened  at 
Bloemfontein  on  July  1st,  1912,  the  head  of  which  would 
be  Brigadier-General  Aston,  Lord  Methuen's  late  Chief  of 

455 

30— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Staff ;  with  a  staff  consisting  of  one  British  Regular 
officer,  one  officer  from  the  Cape  Mounted  Rifles,  and  one 
officer  from  the  Staats  Artillerie  of  the  late  South  African 
Republic.  Provision  is  made  also  for  the  establishment 
of  a  School  of  Aviation,  which  is  to  be  followed  by  the 
enrolment  of  a  South  African  Aviation  Corps. 

SERVICE  IN  TIME  OF  WAR 

The  Permanent  Force  is  liable  at  all  times  to  be 
employed  within  or  without  the  Union  in  time  of  war  ; 
and  thus  the  Union  Government  will  be  enabled  to  place 
a  useful  military  force  at  the  disposal  of  any  other 
member  of  the  Empire,  if  the  need  for  such  assistance 
should  arise.  The  Coast  Garrison,  Active  Citizen,  and 
Citizen  Reserve  Forces  may  be  mobilised  in  time  of  war 
for  service  anywhere  in  South  Africa.  After  the  Active 
Citizen  and  Reserve  Forces  in  any  district  have  been 
called  out,  the  then  members  of  the  National  Reserve 
become  liable  to  be  called  out  for  personal  service  in 
defence  of  the  Union  in  the  order  following : 

Class     I.    Citizens  of  17  to  30  years. 
„       II.  „         31   ,,45     „ 

„     HI.  „         46  „  60     „ 

The  whole,  or  any  part,  of  these  Defence  Forces  may  be 
called  out  for  the  prevention  or  suppression  of  internal 
disorder  ;  and  the  Act  gives  the  Government  special 
powers  in  relation  to  defence  (such  as  to  commandeer 
supplies,  to  expropriate  land,  etc.,  etc.),  and  creates 
special  military  offences  for  which  appropriate  penalties 
are  prescribed. 

It  may  be  noticed,  in  conclusion,  that  the  native  and 
coloured  populations  are  absolutely  excluded  from  taking 
any  part  in  the  defence  of  the  Union.  Thus  the  numeri- 
cally predominant  element  of  its  inhabitants  will  neither 
receive  any  military  training,  nor  be  placed  under  any 
obligation  to  render  service  in  time  of  war. 

456 


CHAPTER  IV 

EDUCATION 

UNDER  the  Constitution  Act  the  work  of  education  is 
divided  for  the  first  five  years  of  the  Union  between  the 
Union  Government  and  the  Provincial  Administrations. 
In  the  actual  words  of  the  clause  in  question  (Sec.  85,  iii), 
"  Education,  other  than  higher  education,  for  a  period  of 
five  years  and  thereafter  until  Parliament  otherwise  pro- 
vides," is  one  of  the  classes  of  subjects  with  which  the 
Provincial  Councils  and  Committees  are  competent  to 
deal. 

PRIMARY  AND  SECONDARY  EDUCATION 
At  the  date  of  the  Union  fully  developed  systems  of 
primary  and  secondary  education  were  in  operation  in 
each  of  the  four  colonies.  In  the  case  of  the  Cape  and 
Natal,  these  systems,  of  course,  dated  back  to  a  period 
long  anterior  to  the  war  (1889-1902),  while  those  of  the 
Transvaal  and  Free  State  had  been  established  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment  after  the  war  by  the  Crown 
Colony  Administration.  Remembering  that  these  systems 
are  designed  almost  exclusively  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  European  inhabitants,  and  that  the  provision  made 
for  the  instruction  of  native  and  coloured  persons  will  be 
reserved  for  consideration  under  the  head  of  "  Native 
Education,"  a  few  sentences  will  serve  to  indicate  the 
general  character  of  the  primary  and  secondary  education 
of  the  Union. 

To-day,  then — since  the  educational  deficiencies  of  the 
new  colonies  were  rapidly  removed  under  the  Crown 
Colony  Administration — there  are  to  be  found  throughout 
the  Union  efficient  primary  schools  in  all  towns  and 
almost  in  all  villages  ;  and  arrangements  are  made  under 

457 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

which  even  children  living  in  isolated  homesteads  can  be 
provided  with  "  farm "  schools.  In  all  large,  and  in 
many  lesser  towns,  High  and  other  Secondary  Schools 
have  been  established,  and  Government  supervision  is 
exercised  over  the  numerous  private  institutions  of  this 
class.  A  glance  at  the  respective  returns  of  the  schools 
of  the  Transvaal  and  Natal,  in  the  year  of  the  Union, 
will  show  how  widely  and  how  evenly  the  education  net 
has  been  spread  ;  for  while  in  the  case  of  Natal  the 
schools  are  the  product  of  a  system  which  has  grown  up 
with  the  colony,  the  Transvaal  schools  are  the  fruit  of 
the  system  introduced  under  Lord  Milner  only  seven 
years  before.  In  1909,  Natal,  with  a  European  popula- 
tion of  less  than  100,000  persons,  had  52  Government 
schools,  including  secondary  schools  at  Maritzburg  and 
Durban,  and  there  were  in  all  269  schools  for  European 
children  under  Government  inspection.  At  the  same 
date  in  the  Transvaal,  where  the  European  inhabitants 
numbered  some  400,000,  there  were  directly  under  the 
Education  Department  6  high  schools,  150  town  and 
village  schools,  546  country  schools,  and  33  Government- 
aided  schools,  with  a  total  enrolment  of  49, 198  scholars  ; 
while  1,243  pupils  were  receiving  secondary  education  in 
the  21  superior  schools,  and  a  further  708  were  being 
taught  similarly  in  the  138  schools  under  the  control  of 
Boards  where  education  above  Standard  VI  was  pro- 
vided. (The  figures  refer,  of  course,  exclusively  to  schools 
for  white  children.) 

In  each  province  there  is  an  Education  Department, 
with  a  Director  of  Education  and  a  staff  of  inspectors, 
and  the  departments  are  assisted  locally  by  School  Boards 
or  Committees  and  District  Education  Boards.  While 
the  details  of  management,  and  the  proportions  of  the 
cost  borne  by  localities,  vary  as  yet  in  the  several  pro- 
vinces, the  main  lines  upon  which  the  Government  schools 
are  administered  are,  with  one  exception,  practically 

458 


GOVERNMENT   SCHOOLS 

identical  throughout  the  Union.  This  exception  is  the 
introduction  effected  in  1908  by  General  Hertzog,  of 
what  is  known  as  "  Compulsory  Bi-lingualism  "  into  the 
Free  State  system.  General  Hertzog's  action  has  given 
rise  to  much  political  discussion  ;  and  an  endeavour  is 
being  made  by  the  Union  Government  as  a  whole,  and 
by  the  Minister  of  Education  in  particular,  to  formulate 
a  common  procedure  in  the  respective  use  of  Dutch  and 
English  as  media  of  instruction,  which  will  be  acceptable 
to  the  education  authorities  in  all  four  provinces. 

THE  BI-LINGUAL  QUESTION 

As  the  harmonious  working  of  the  principle  of  equal 
rights  for  the  English  and  Dutch  languages,  laid  down  in 
the  Constitution  Act,  is  a  matter  which  touches  every 
aspect  of  the  life  of  the  Union,  an  account  of  what  has 
been  done  to  secure  the  desired  result  in  the  field  of 
Education  will  be  of  interest.  The  Transvaal  Education 
Act  of  1907  embodied  a  compromise  on  the  language 
question  made  between  the  Government  and  the  (mainly 
British)  Opposition  of  this  colony ;  and,  as  such,  it 
represents  the  view  of  the  Unionist  (and  mainly  British) 
party  in  the  Union  Parliament  of  to-day.  The  Free 
State  Education  Law  of  1908,  as  already  noticed,  gave 
effect  to  the  opposite  view.  A  comparison  of  the  relevant 
provisions  of  these  two  laws  will  reveal,  therefore,  the 
issue  in  its  clearest  and  most  practical  form  ;  and  such  a 
comparison  is  presented  in  the  authoritative  statements 
given  below. 

Memorandum  by  Dr.  Viljoen,  Director  of  Education 
in  the  Orange  Free  State  Province,  on  the  operation  of 
the  Education  Act  of  1908 : 

MEDIUM  OF  INSTRUCTION 
(a)  Up  to  Standard  IV. 

.  .  .    All  pupils,  up  to  and  including  Standard  IV,  are  entitled 
to  receive   all   their   instruction   in   every   subject   through   the 

459 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

medium  of  the  language  best  spoken  and  understood  by  them. 
The  second  language,  which  is  not  the  medium  of  instruction, 
may  be  gradually  introduced  in  these  classes  in  so  far  as  is  com- 
patible with  the  age,  health,  and  intelligence  of  the  pupils.  .  .  . 

(b)   Beyond  Standard  IV. 

As  regards  the  medium  of  instruction  above  Standard  IV,  up 
to  and  including  the  Standard  of  Matriculation,  the  law  requires 
that  as  far  as  possible  English  and  Dutch  shall  be  used  equally 
as  mediums  of  instruction,  that  is  to  say,  an  equal  number  of 
principal  subjects  shall  be  taught  through  each  of  the  two 
languages. 

Memorandum  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Adamson,  Director  of 
Education  in  the  Transvaal  Province,  on  the  working  of 
the  language  clauses  of  the  Transvaal  Education  Act,  1907 : 

It  may  be  observed,  first,  that  there  are  really  five  propositions 
embodied  in  the  relevant  sections  of  the  Act.  These  are  : 

1 .  The  first  steps  in  instruction  must  be  taken  through  the 
native  language. 

2.  English,   when  it  is  not  the  native  language,   must  be 
introduced  gradually  as  a  medium  and  must  be  the  medium 
above  the  Third  Standard,   save  in  respect  of  two  subjects 
which  may  be  taught  through  the  medium  of  Dutch.     (The 
Bible  lesson  is  given  in  Dutch  to  Dutch  children  and  in  English 
to  English  children.) 

3.  Proficiency  in  English  is  to  be  a  condition  of  probation 
from  Standard  to  Standard. 

4.  Proper  provision  for  the  teaching  of  Dutch  must  be  made 
in  every  school,  and  every  child  is  to  be  taught  Dutch,  unless 
the  parent  asks  for  exemption. 

5.  The  Board  is  to  decide  when  any  appeal  or  doubt  arises  ; 
but  there  is  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Minister. 

In  view  of  this  divergence,  Mr.  F.  S.  Malan,  the  Union 
Minister  of  Education,  on  November  2nd,  1910,  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  Administrators  of  the  four  Provinces,  in 
which  he  pointed  out  that  at  present  different  systems 
and  different  policies  prevailed  under  the  Education  Acts 
in  the  several  provinces,  adding  that "  these  controversies 
in  regard  to  questions  of  language  at  public  schools  point 
to  the  desirability  of  dealing  on  broad  uniform  lines  with 
those  questions  in  all  Provinces  of  the  Union."  Mr. 
Malan  then  suggested  that  the  four  Directors  of  Educa- 
tion should  meet  in  conference  at  Capetown  on 

460 


THE   LANGUAGE   QUESTION 

November  15th,  1910.  This  Conference  was  held  on 
November  15th  to  22nd  ;  and  the  recommendations  of 
the  Directors  of  Education,  together  with  the  corre- 
spondence leading  up  to  the  Conference,  were  published 
and  laid  before  Parliament. l 

In  the  Parliamentary  Session  of  1911  a  Conference  of 
Ministerialist  and  Unionist  representatives  was  held  on 
the  Language  Question,  and  a  compromise  between  the 
Transvaal  and  Free  State  systems,  as  formulated  in  the 
Majority  Report,  was  adopted.  While,  however,  General 
Botha  was  in  England — he  had  left  South  Africa  to 
attend  the  Imperial  Conference  and  the  Coronation  of 
King  George  V — General  Hertzog,  the  (Union)  Minister 
of  Justice  and  the  author  of  the  Free  State  Law  of  1908, 
took  occasion  to  advocate  the  claims  of  "  Compulsory 
Bi-lingualism,"  especially  among  the  more  conservative 
of  the  Government's  supporters.  None  the  less,  on 
November  21st,  1911,  General  Botha  announced  to  the 
Congress  of  the  South  African  Party,  assembled  at 
Bloemfontein,  that  the  compromise  on  the  Language 
Question  would  be  put  into  effect.  At  the  next  sittings 
of  the  Provincial  Councils,  he  then  said,  the  respective 
education  laws  would  be  amended  "so  as  to  allow  the 
language  question  to  be  settled  on  the  basis  of  the 
Ministerialist  and  Unionist  compromise  embodied  in  the 
Majority  Report  of  the  recent  Conference,  or  with  the 
addition  to  it  of  the  amendments,  made  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  Opposition,  in  the  Transvaal  Act." 2 

1  Reports  and  Correspondence,  on  the  Provisions  in  the  Educa- 
tion Acts  of  the  Four  Provinces  for  the  teaching  of  the  English 
and  Dutch  languages  and  their  use  as  media  of  instruction. 

2  As  reported  by  Reuter.     It  was  at  this  Congress  that  the 
new  name  "  South  African  Party  "   (in  lieu  of  "  Nationalist  ") 
was  adopted  by  General  Botha's  followers.     The  necessary  steps 
for  the  dissolution  of  the  Africander  Bond,  the  Orangia  Unie, 
and  Het  Volk,  the  three  Nationalist  organisations  in  the  Cape, 
Free    State,     and    the    Transvaal    respectively,     were    taken 
subsequently. 

461 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

HIGHER  EDUCATION 

The  Union  Ministry  of  Education  was  an  entirely  new 
department,  and  the  Education  Departments  of  the  four 
provinces  carried  on  the  whole  work  of  education  up  to 
the  appointment  of  an  (acting)  Under-Secretary  for 
Education,  which  took  effect  on  August  16th,  1910. 

"  The  first  difficulty  which  presented  itself  on  the 
institution  of  this  Department,"  writes1  the  (acting) 
Under-Secretary,  "  was  the  interpretation  of  the  term 
Higher  Education,  as  denoting  the  sphere  of  the  Depart- 
ment's operations  in  accordance  with  the  South  Africa 
Act." 

On  this  point  a  Conference  of  the  Directors  of  Educa- 
tion of  the  four  Provinces,  held  at  Capetown  on  June  17th 
and  18th,  1910,  passed  the  following  resolutions  : 

(a)  That  this  Conference  is  of  opinion  that  for  the  purposes 
of  the  South  Africa  Act,  Higher  Education  should  include  educa- 
tion beyond  the  standard  of  Matriculation,  or  a  standard  con- 
sidered by  the  Minister  to  be  equivalent  thereto  which  is  carried 
on  in  an  institution  established  under  a  special  statute,  and  any 
extension    or    continuation    courses    carried    on    in    connection 
with  such  an  institution  which  the  Minister  may  approve,  and 
courses  for  the  training  of  teachers  followed  in  institutions  to  be 
afterwards  named. 

(b)  That,  with  a  view  to  ultimate  uniformity  in  the  syllabuses 
and  the  standards  of  examination  for  Teachers'  Certificates,  as 
well  as  in  the  method  of  training,  it  is  desirable  that  the  four 
directors  of  Education  should  take  the  whole  subject  and  related 
matters  into  consideration,   and  meet  in  September,    1910,   to 
formulate  the  general  lines  of  some  scheme  likely  to  be  practicable 
for  all  the  Provinces. 

These  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Union  Minister 
of  Education  as  an  "  initial  working  principle."  For  the 
present,  therefore,  the  training  schools  for  teachers  in  the 
several  provinces  have  been  left  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  respective  Provincial  Education  Departments. 

1  Mr.  George  M.  Hofmeyr,  in  his  Report  for  the  year  ending 
December  31st,  1910  (addressed  to  the  Minister  of  Education, 
the  Hon.  F.  S.  Malan),  from  which  the  above  and  following 
passages  and  tables  are  taken. 

462 


THE   MINISTRY   OF    EDUCATION 

"  It  was  further  decided,"  the  Under-Secretary  con- 
tinues, "  that  Agricultural  Higher  Education  should 
remain  under  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Agri- 
cultural Colleges  being  brought  into  closer  connection 
with,  and  their  Principals  being  charged  with  the 
superintendence  of,  the  Experimental  Stations." 

The  Department  is,  therefore,  for  the  present  concerned 
with  the  following  institutions,  incorporated  by  Acts  of 
Parliament  in  the  years  undermentioned  : 

(1)  The  University  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  1873. 

(2)  South  African  College,  1878. 

(3)  Victoria  College,  1881. 

(4)  Diocesan  College  (discontinued  from  January  1st,  1911). 

(5)  Rhodes'  University  College,  1904. 

(6)  Huguenot  College  for  Women,  1909. 

(7)  The  Grey  University  College,  1910. 

(8)  The  Transvaal  University  College,  1910. 

(9)  The  South  African  School  of  Mines  and  Technology,  1910. 
(10)  The  Natal  University  College,  1909. 

Besides  controlling  these  institutions  (see  Table  on  p. 
464),  the  Minister  of  Education  takes  the  initiative  in  mis- 
cellaneous matters  affecting  education  in  the  four  pro- 
vinces, where  joint  action  is  needed  ;  and  in  such  cases  the 
Union  Department  becomes  the  channel  of  correspondence. 
He  also  takes  action  in  respect  of  any  matters  of  general 
educational  interest  which  may  be  brought  to  his  notice. 

AIMS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT 

In  view  of  the  abnormally  high  cost  of  higher  educa- 
tion, and  generally  with  a  desire  to  improve  the  efficiency 
of  the  several  institutions,  it  is  the  expressed  purpose  of 
the  Department  "  to  aim  steadfastly  at  uniformity,  at 
equality,  and  a  reduction  of  the  expenditure  generally, 
even  though  it  may  be  found  necessary  for  this  purpose 
to  propose  amendments  of  legislative  enactments."  And 
the  Under-Secretary  continues  :  "In  the  case  of  some 
institutions,  determined  efforts  should  be  made  to  increase 
their  revenue.  The  process,  I  submit,  will  require  to 

463 


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South  African  College 
Victoria  College 
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APPROXIMATE    COST 


be  a  gradual  one,  and  will  involve  the  consideration  of 
many  important  details." 

The  Estimates  for  1911-12,  therefore,  provided  for  no 
increases  and  no  recurrent  expenditure,  except  such  as 
had  been  proved  to  be  essential.  And  in  this  connection 
it  may  be  noted  that  the  amount  voted  under  the  sub- 
head "  Higher  Education  "  in  this  year  was  £109,520,  and 
the  total  vote  for  the  Ministry  of  Education  was  £327,094. 

Steps  have  also  been  taken  (the  Under-Secretary 
reports)  to  introduce  uniformity  into  the  extent  of  the 
control  exercised  by  the  Department  over  the  Councils, 
or  other  governing  bodies,  of  the  various  colleges  and 
institutions. 

The  approximate  cost  per  student  to  the  State  is 
thus  exhibited  : 


Colleges. 

No. 
of 
Stu- 
dents. 

Approximate 
Total  Cost 
to  State 
per  annum. 

Approximate  Cost 
per  Student  per  annum. 

Including 
Law 
Students. 

Excluding 
Law  Students 
and  their 
additional 
Cost. 

South  African  College 
Victoria  College 
Rhodes  University  College 
Huguenot  College  .  . 
Grey  University  College    . 
Transvaal  University  Coll. 
Natal  University  College  . 
South   African   School  of 
Mines,  etc. 

Total 

310 
340 
125 
53 
72 
104 
57 

110 

15,567  (a) 
11,344 
7,169 
2,580 
8,640  (b) 
10,332 
5,785  (c) 

15,668 

£, 

33 
57 
49 
120 
99 
101 

142 

k 

33 
60 
49 
121 
120 
170 

176 

1,171 

Tl.  77,085 

Avg.  66 

Avg.  70 

(a)  £1,500  deducted  for  cost  of  new  equipment  of  laboratories  ; 
(b)  £900  deducted,  being  fees  payable  into  Treasury  ;  (c)  £600 
deducted,  being  fees  payable  into  Treasury. 

In  this  table  the  total  number  of  students  is  that  for 
the  third  term  of  1910,  and  the  total  cost  is  that  provided 
for  in  the  Estimates  for  1911-12. 

In  addition  to  the  sums  shown  above,  grants  to  teachers 

465 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

in  training  at  these  colleges  and  other  bursaries  were 
given  by  the  State  of  the  total  value  of  £6,780. 

With  further  reference  to  these  tables,  the  Under- 
secretary gives  the  following  additional  information 
concerning  the  youngest  and  the  oldest  of  the  institutions 
mentioned.  The  Natal  University  College  came  into 
existence  only  in  1909.  Like  other  University  Colleges 
of  the  Union,  it  is  affiliated  to  the  University  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.  The  affairs  of  the  College  are  managed 
by  a  Council,  consisting  of  sixteen  members  representative 
of  all  interests  concerned  in  the  prosperity  of  the  institu- 
tion, together  with  a  Registrar.  The  College  issues  its 
own  calendar,  which  gives  information  as  to  the  fees, 
courses  of  lectures,  etc. 

The  Diocesan  College,  Rondesbosch,  which  in  the  past 
forty  years  has  done  excellent  work,  ceased  to  exist  at 
the  end  of  1910.  Under  an  agreement  made  between 
the  Councils  of  the  Diocesan  and  South  African  Colleges, 
and  approved  by  the  Union  Government,  this  college 
was  amalgamated  with  the  South  African  College  from 
January  1st,  1911.  As  a  condition  of  this  agreement, 
three  professors  of  the  Diocesan  College  joined  the  staff 
of  the  South  African  College,  and  retiring  allowances 
were  granted  to  three  other  members  of  the  Diocesan 
College  staff,  whose  services  were  no  longer  required. 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

The  existing  University,  the  University  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  is  governed  by  a  Council,  the  members  of 
which  are  partly  nominated  by  Government  and  partly 
elected  by  Convocation  ;  and  it  was  incorporated  by 
Act  of  Parliament  of  the  Cape  Colony  in  1873,  the  year 
following  that  in  which  Responsible  Government  was 
granted  to  this  colony.  It  is — as  was  the  University  of 
London  until  recent  years — an  examining  and  degree- 
conferring  body,  and  not  a  teaching  university.  In  this 

466 


THE    BEIT    BEQUEST 

capacity  it  has  served  the  whole  of  South  Africa  ;  and 
from  time  to  time  the  other  colonies  or  states  have  made 
annual  contributions  towards  its  expenditure,  and 
obtained  a  measure  of  representation  on  its  Council  and 
Committees.  For  many  years  past,  however,  the  need 
for  a  teaching  university  of  the  same  character  as  those 
established  in  Australia  and  in  Canada  has  been  recog- 
nised ;  and  the  necessary  steps  for  the  creation  of  this 
institution  are  now  being  taken  by  the  Union  Govern- 
ment. On  this  subject  the  Under-Secretary  for  Education 
writes  in  his  Report  for  1910  : 

A  Bill  will  at  an  early  date  be  introduced  into  Parliament 
providing  the  first  measures  towards  the  establishment  of  a 
University  of  South  Africa  to  meet  adequately  the  demands  of 
the  times. 

The  funds  for  the  creation  of  the  new  University  have 
been  provided  already,  in  a  large  measure,  by  the  muni- 
ficence of  the  late  Mr.  Alfred  Beit.  While  he  was  still 
alive,  Mr.  Beit  gave  the  beautiful  Frankenwald  Estate, 
lying  between  Johannesburg  and  Pretoria,  to  the  Trans- 
vaal (then  under  the  Crown  Colony  Administration)  for 
the  purposes  of  education  ;  and  by  his  will  he  left  a 
legacy  of  £200,000  for  the  foundation  of  a  teaching 
university  on  this  estate.  The  Transvaal  (Responsible) 
Government,  however,  was  not  in  a  position  to  accept 
this  legacy  under  the  conditions  by  which  it  was  accom- 
panied ;  and  it  is  understood  that,  when  the  necessary 
legislation  has  been  passed  releasing  the  trustees  of  the 
will  from  their  obligations  to  the  Transvaal  Government 
(or  its  legal  successor),  Mr.  Otto  Beit  will  be  ready  to 
apply  this  £200,000— making,  together  with  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  Frankenwald,  some  £500,000  in  all—to  the 
founding  of  a  teaching  university  within  the  Union. 

In  offering  to  sanction  the  appropriation  of  this  large 
sum  of  £500,000  to  the  purposes  of  the  new  South  African 
University,  the  Beit  Trustees  required  naturally  that  the 

467 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

terms  and  conditions  of  its  foundation  should  be  such  as 
could  command  their  approval.  The  University  and 
Higher  Education  Bill,  as  originally  drafted,  failed  to 
satisfy  this  requirement,  and  Mr.  Malan  informed  the 
Union  Parliament  on  February  6th,  1912,  that  the  intro- 
duction of  the  measure  would  be  postponed,  pending 
further  negotiations  with  the  Beit  Trustees.  The  pro- 
posals to  which  objection  was  taken  were  understood  to 
be  the  restriction  of  the  Arts  and  Science  faculties  to 
post-graduates,  the  omission  of  the  essential  requirement 
of  residence  on  the  part  of  the  students,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  the  bi-lingual  principle  into  the  teaching 
system  of  the  University.  It  is  also  reported  that  the 
Trustees  have  suggested  that  the  proposals  to  be  embodied 
in  the  new  Bill  should  be  drawn  up  by  a  commission  of 
educational  experts,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Union 
Government  for  this  purpose. 

Assuming  that  an  agreement  is  reached  between  the 
Union  Government  and  the  Beit  Trustees  on  these  and 
other  matters,  it  remains  to  be  seen  where  the  University 
of  South  Africa  is  to  be  placed.  The  opinion  is  held 
very  generally  that  the  slopes  of  Table  Mountain,  hard 
by  Groote  Schuur,  once  Rhodes'  house,  and  now  the 
official  residence  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  the  Union  of 
South  Africa,  would  afford  an  ideal  site  for  a  great  seat 
of  learning.  And  the  proposal  has  the  further  recom- 
mendation that  the  South  African  College,  only  a  few 
miles  oft  at  Capetown,  both  in  respect  of  its  teaching 
staff  and  its  large  attendance  of  students,  would  form  an 
excellent  nucleus  out  of  which  the  University  could  be 
developed. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  Govern- 
ment, in  agreeing  recently  to  the  institution  of  Chairs  of 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  at  the  South  African  College, 
has  reserved  to  itself  the  right  to  transfer  these  Chairs, 
if  desired,  to  the  seat  of  the  new  University. 

468 


THE   SCHOOL   OF    MINES 

PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING 

The  facilities  at  present  afforded  for  professional 
training,  exclusive  of  the  ordinary  courses  for  the  Arts 
and  Law  degrees  conferred  by  the  (existing)  University, 
are  as  follows  : 

Medicine.  A  fully-equipped  South  African  School  of 
Medicine  is  in  process  of  formation  at  the  South  African 
College,  Capetown.  The  object  of  the  school  is  to 
furnish  to  aspirant  physicians  and  surgeons  the  equiva- 
lent of  the  first  two  years  of  a  medical  course  in  the 
Universities  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

Teaching.  At  the  Grey  University  College,  Bloem- 
fontein,  and  at  the  Victoria  College,  Stellenbosch,  Chairs 
of  Education  have  been  established. 

Mining,  Engineering,  etc.  It  would  be  strange  if  the 
Rand,  where  scientific  knowledge,  as  applied  to  the  pro- 
cesses of  chemical  and  mechanical  extraction  of  gold 
from  the  ore,  is  to  be  seen  in  all  its  latest  and  most  original 
developments,  had  no  School  of  Mines.  In  point  of  fact, 
the  South  African  School  of  Mines  and  Technology,  at 
Johannesburg — the  successor  of  the  Transvaal  Technical 
Institute — promises  to  be  one  of  the  most  efficient 
teaching  institutions  of  its  kind  within  the  Empire. 
Incorporated  by  Act  of  Parliament  in  1910,  it  provides 
a  four  years'  course  in  mining,  whereas  the  other  colleges 
of  the  Union  offer  teaching  only  in  the  first  two  years' 
courses  of  the  full  four  years'  mining  curriculum  pre- 
scribed by  the  University.  It  also  provides  courses  of 
over  four  years  in  mechanical  and  electrical  engineering, 
civil  engineering,  metallurgy,  and  chemical  engineering. 
The  question  whether  the  School  should  itself  conduct 
examinations  and  grant  certificates,  both  to  the  students 
of  other  institutions  (such  as  the  South  African  College, 
where  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  mining  students), 
as  well  as  to  its  own  members,  is  under  consideration 
(i.e.,  in  1911). 

469 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

The  qualification  for  admission  to  this  Institution  is 
the  Matriculation  of  the  Cape  University,  or  its  equiva- 
lent ;  and  during  the  year  1910  there  were  90  students  in 
attendance.  Of  these,  51  were  first  year,  21  second  year, 
9  third  year,  7  fourth  year,  and  2  occasional,  students. 

The  distribution  of  the  students  among  the  various 
subjects  of  study  is  shown  by  the  following  table  : 

«*"•  Students. 

Mining  . .          . .          . .          . .  51 


Mechanical  and  Electrical  Engineering 

Civil  Engineering 

Metallurgy 

Chemical  Engineering 

Occasional 


26 
3 
5 
3 
2 


In  addition  to  the  foregoing  courses,  the  School  pro- 
vides instruction  in  law,  and  carries  on  Evening  and 
"  Reef "  Classes.  At  the  close  of  1910  no  less  than 
1,700  men  were  receiving  instruction  by  means  of  these 
secondary  efforts  of  the  Institution.  In  this  and  in 
other  ways,  writes  the  Under-Secretary  for  Education, 
the  South  African  School  of  Mines  has  "  sought  to  serve 
the  technical  and  scientific  interests  of  the  community. 
It  is  now  turning  out  students  capable  of  eventually 
filling  high  positions  in  the  mining  industry,  besides 
qualifying  hundreds  for  less  important  posts.  The 
School  has,  since  its  inception,  received  liberal  support 
from  the  industry  and  the  public/' 

Conferences  were  held  in  the  latter  part  of  1910,  at 
Capetown,  with  the  object  of  fixing  the  standard  of  merit 
in  mining  and  engineering,  and  in  the  theory  and  practice 
of  surveying,  which  was  to  entitle  students  to  obtain,  by 
examination,  certificates  of  competence  in  these  branches 
of  professional  knowledge.  In  the  first  case,  the  members 
of  the  Conference  consisted  of  representatives  of  the 
University  Council,  the  South  African  College,  and  the 
South  African  School  of  Mines ;  in  the  second  case,  the 

470 


AGRICULTURAL   SCHOOLS 


delegates  of  the  University  Council  conferred  with  the 
Surveyors-General  of  the  four  provinces  of  the  Union. 
As  the  result  of  these  Conferences,  it  is  hoped  that  it 
will  be  possible,  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  new 
South  African  University,  to  enable  students  to  provide 
themselves  with  evidences  of  capacity  in  the  several 
professions  in  question,  which  will  satisfy  fully  the 
reasonable  requirements  of  employers  in  all  four  provinces 
of  the  Union. 

AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION 

The  provision  for  agricultural  education,  made  in  the 
vote  for  the  Ministry  of  Education  for  the  year  1911-12, 
amounts  to  £95,629.  The  institutions  to  be  maintained, 
and  the  sums  respectively  allocated  to  them,  are  as  under  : 

I 

Transvaal  College  of  Agriculture,  Pretoria  . 

Elsenberg  Agricultural  School             .          .  10,500 

Robertson  Experiment  Section            .          .  1,540 

Grootfontein  Agricultural  School        .          .  19,110 

Cedera  Agricultural  School    . .           .          .  9,431 

Winkelspruit  Experiment  Station      .          .  1,691 

Weenen  Experiment  Station                .          .  988 

Potchefstroom  Agricultural  School  and  Farm  18,608 

Standerton  Stud  Farm            . .            .          .  5,468 

Ermolo  Stud  Sheep  Farm      . .            .          .  3,628 

Marico  Experiment  Orchard  . .            .          .  774 

Groot  Vlei  Experiment  Station           .          .  2,575 

Tweespruit  Agricultural  School  and  Farm  .  8,821 
Besterspruit  Experiment  Station  and  Donkey  Stud 

Farm 1,960 

Frankenwald  Estate 1,020 

And  to  these  amounts  must  be  added  the  further  sums 
of  £4,015  and  £5,000,  appropriated  respectively  to  agri- 
cultural scholarships  and  the  purchase  of  pedigree  stock. 

Many  of  these  institutions  are  scarcely  of  an  educa- 
tional character,  and  both  they  themselves  and  the  fact 
of  their  appearance  on  the  Education  Vote  have  been  the 
subject  of  comment  in  an  earlier  chapter.1 

*  Part  IV,  Chap.  IV,  p.  367. 

471 

31— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

The  nature  of  the  teaching  staff  and  general  equipment 
of  the  agricultural  schools  will  be  indicated  sufficiently  in 
the  following  particulars  : 

At  Grootfontein  Agricultural  School  (Cape  Province) 
there  are  eleven  lecturers  and  instructors,  beside  the 
Principal  of  the  School  and  the  Manager  of  the  Farm ; 
and  provision  is  made  for  agricultural  bursaries,  etc. 

At  Cedera  Agricultural  School  (Natal  Province)  there 
is  a  director,  a  house-master,  thirteen  lecturers  and 
instructors,  three  clerical  assistants,  a  farm  manager,  a 
matron,  and  a  medical  officer. 

At  Potchefstroom  Agricultural  School  and  Farm 
(Transvaal  Province)  there  is  a  manager,  a  warden  and 
lecturer,  five  lecturers,  a  poultry  expert  and  his  assistant, 
two  assistant  horticulturists,  and  a  dairy  assistant,  etc. 

At  Tweespruit  Agricultural  School  and  Farm  (Free 
State  Province)  the  staff  consists  of  a  principal,  a  manager, 
six  lecturers,  an  orchardist,  etc. 

The  departmental  receipts  in  respect  of  these  institu- 
tions for  the  year  1911-12  were  estimated  to  be : 

School  Fees  7,750 

Receipts   from    Experiment   Farms,    Sales   of 

Stock,  Stud  Fees,  etc.,  etc „      18,959 

£26,709 

It  must  be  remembered  also  that  a  National  Institution 
for  the  Teaching  of  Agriculture — The  Transvaal  College 
of  Agriculture — is  in  course  of  erection  at  the  present  time 
at  Pretoria,  the  administrative  capital  of  the  Union. 

THE  RHODES  SCHOLARSHIPS 

As  all  the  world  knows,  Rhodes  provided  in  his  will1 
for  the  foundation  of  a  number  of  scholarships  carrying 

1  Rhodes  died  on  March  26th,  1902.  The  will  (in  its  final 
form)  was  dated  July  1st,  1899. 

472 


THE    RHODES    SCHOLARSHIPS 

students  from  the  oversea  dominions,  the  United  States, 
and  Germany  to  Oxford.  In  the  distribution  of  these 
benefactions,  the  (then)  British  Colonies  in  South  Africa, 
and  Rhodesia  in  particular,  were  treated  naturally  with 
especial  generosity ;  and  under  the  system  established 
by  the  Rhodes  Trustees  no  less  than  eight  scholars  are 
elected  annually  in  South  Africa — four  in  the  Cape 
Province,  one  in  Natal,  and  three  in  Rhodesia. 

The  purpose  of  the  scholarships  and  the  method  of 
selecting  candidates  are  both  explained  by  Rhodes 
himself  in  the  will. 

Of  the  Colonial  and  American  Scholarships,  he  says  : 

Whereas  I  consider  that  the  education  of  young  Colonists  at 
one  of  the  Universities  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  of  great  advan- 
tage to  them  for  giving  breadth  to  their  views  for  their  instruc- 
tion in  life  and  manners  and  for  instilling  into  their  minds  the 
advantage  to  the  Colonies  as  well  as  to  the  United  Kingdom  of 
the  retention  of  the  Unity  of  the  Empire  And  whereas  ...  I 
attach  very  great  importance  to  the  University  having  a  resi- 
dential system  such  as  is  in  force  at  the  Universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  for  without  it  those  students  are  at  the  most 
critical  period  of  their  lives  left  without  any  supervision.  .  .  . 
And  whereas  my  own  University — the  University  of  Oxford — 
has  such  a  system.  .  .  .  And  whereas  I  also  desire  to  encourage 
and  foster  an  appreciation  of  the  advantages  which  I  implicitly 
believe  will  result  from  the  Union  of  the  English-speaking  peoples 
throughout  the  world  and  to  encourage  in  the  students  from  the 
United  States  of  North  America  who  will  benefit  from  the 
American  scholarships  to  be  established  for  the  reason  above 
given  at  the  University  of  Oxford  under  this  my  Will  an  attach- 
ment to  the  country  from  which  they  have  sprung  but  without 
I  hope  withdrawing  them  or  their  sympathies  from  the  land  of 
their  adoption  or  birth  Now  therefore  I  direct  my  Trustees 
...  to  establish  for  male  students  the  Scholarships  hereinafter 
directed  to  be  established  each  of  which  shall  be  of  the  yearly 
value  of  £300  and  be  tenable  at  any  College  in  the  University 
of  Oxford  for  three  consecutive  academical  years. 

And  of  the  German  Scholarships,  in  a  codicil  executed 
in  South  Africa,  he  says  : 

I  note  the  German  Emperor  has  made  instruction  in  English 
compulsory  in  German  schools.  I  leave  five  yearly  scholarships 

473 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

at  Oxford  of  £250  per  annum  to  students  of  German  birth  the 
scholars  to  be  nominated  by  the  German  Emperor  for  the  time 
being.  Each  Scholarship  to  continue  for  three  years  so  that  each 
year  after  the  first  three  there  will  be  fifteen  scholars.  The 
object  is  that  an  understanding  between  the  three  Great  Powers 
will  render  war  impossible  and  educational  relations  make  the 
strongest  tie. 

The  method  of  selection  is  set  out  in  the  following 
paragraph  : 

My  desire  being  that  the  students  who  shall  be  elected  to  the 
Scholarships  shall  not  be  merely  bookworms  I  direct  that  in  the 
election  of  a  student  to  a  Scholarship  regard  shall  be  had  to  (i) 
his  literary  and  scholastic  attainments  (ii)  his  fondness  for  and 
success  in  manly  outdoor  sports  such  as  cricket  football  and  the 
like  (iii)  his  qualities  of  manhood  truth  courage  devotion  to 
duty  sympathy  for  and  protection  of  the  weak  kindliness  unselfish- 
ness and  fellowship  and  (iv)  his  exhibition  during  schooldays  of 
moral  force  of  character  and  of  instincts  to  lead  and  to  take  an 
interest  in  his  schoolmates  for  those  latter  attributes  will  be 
likely  in  after  life  to  guide  him  to  esteem  the  performance  of 
public  duties  as  his  highest  aim  As  mere  suggestions  for  the 
guidance  of  those  who  will  have  the  choice  of  students  for  the 
Scholarships  I  record  that  (i)  my  ideal  qualified  student  would 
combine  these  four  qualifications  in  the  proportion  of  three- 
tenths  for  the  first  two-tenths  for  the  second  three-tenths  for 
the  third  and  two-tenths  for  the  fourth  qualification  so  that 
according  to  my  ideas  if  the  maximum  number  of  marks  for  any 
Scholarship  were  200  they  would  be  apportioned  as  follows — 
60  to  each  of  the  first  and  third  qualifications  and  40  to  each 
of  the  second  and  fourth  qualifications  (ii)  the  marks  for  the 
several  qualifications  would  be  awarded  independently  as  follows 
(that  is  to  say)  the  marks  for  the  first  qualification  by  examina- 
tion for  the  second  and  third  qualifications  respectively  by  ballot 
by  the  fellow  students  of  the  candidates  and  for  the  fourth 
qualification  by  the  headmaster  of  the  candidate's  school  and 
(iii)  the  results  of  the  awards  (that  is  to  say  the  marks  obtained 
by  each  candidate  for  each  qualification)  would  be  sent  as  soon 
as  possible  for  consideration  to  the  Trustees  or  to  some  person 
or  persons  appointed  to  receive  the  same  and  the  person  or  per- 
sons so  appointed  would  ascertain  by  arranging  the  marks  in 
blocks  of  20  marks  each  of  all  candidates  the  best  ideal  qualified 
students. 

No  student  shall  be  qualified  or  disqualified  for  election  to  a 
scholarship  on  account  of  his  race  or  religious  opinions. 

The  original  distribution  of  the  Colonial  Scholarships 

474 


NUMBER    OF    SCHOLARS 


was  set  out  in  the  following  table,  which  formed  part 
of  the  will : 


Total 
No. 
Appro- 
priated. 

To  be  tenable  by  Students  of  or 
from 

No.  of  Scholar- 
ships to  be 
filled  up  in 
each  year. 

9 

Rhodesia           

3  and  no  more 

3 

The  South  African  College  School,  in 

the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 

1 

3 

The  Stellenbosch  College  School,  in 

the  same  Colony 

1        „ 

3 

The     Diocesan    College    School     of 

Rondesbosch,  in  the  same  Colony  .  . 

1 

3 

St.  Andrew's  College  School,  Grahams- 

town,  in  the  same  Colony 

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  Natal    

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  New  South  Wales      .  . 

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  Victoria 

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  South  Australia 

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  Queensland 

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  Western  Australia 

1 

3 

The  Colony  of  Tasmania 

1        „ 

3 

The  Colony  of  New  Zealand 

1 

3 

The    Province    of    Ontario,    in    the 

Dominion  of  Canada 

1 

3 

The    Province    of    Quebec,    in    the 

Dominion  of  Canada 

1 

3 

The  Colony  or  Island  of  Newfound- 

land and  its  Dependencies 

1 

3 

The  Colony  or  Islands  of  the  Bermudas 

1 

3 

The  Colony  or  Island  of  Jamaica 

1 

There  were  thus  60  scholarships  in  all,  of  which  24 
were  appropriated  to  South  Africa,  18  to  Australia,  3  to 
New  Zealand,  6  to  Canada,  3  to  the  Bermudas,  and  3  to 
Jamaica  ;  and  the  total  number  to  be  filled  up  each  year 
was  20.  In  view  of  the  obvious  insufficiency  of  the 
number  of  scholarships  appropriated  to  Canada,  the 
Rhodes  Trustees  have  assigned  scholarships  (on  the  same 

475 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

basis  as  those  allocated  to  Ontario  and  Quebec)  to  the 
provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edward 
Island,  British  Columbia,  Manitoba,  and  the  North-west 
Provinces  (Alberta  and  Saskatchewan  alternatively). 
The  present  total  of  the  Colonial  Scholarships  is,  therefore, 
seventy-eight. 

As  Rhodes  allocated  two  (instead  of  three)  scholarships 
to  each  of  the  forty-eight  States  or  Territories  of  the 
United  States,  while  making  them,  nevertheless,  tenable 
for  three  years  like  the  Colonial  Scholarships,  in  the  case  • 
of  the  American  Scholarships  there  is  no  election  in  every 
third  year.1  Thus  the  respective  complements  of 
Colonial,  American,  and  German  Rhodes'  scholars 
in  residence  at  Oxford  in  any  one  term  are  78,  96, 
and  15.  Rhodes'  foundation,  therefore,  has  widened 
the  current  of  Oxford  undergraduate  life  by  a  constant 
stream  of  some  200  young  men  of  promise,  gathered  from 
the  Dominions,  the  United  States,  and  Germany. 

The  trustees  and  executors  appointed  by  Rhodes  in  his 
will  were  :  The  Earl  of  Rosebery,  Earl  Grey,  Viscount 
Milner,  Mr.  Alfred  Beit,  Dr.  (now  Sir)  L.  S.  Jameson, 
Sir  Lewis  Mitchell,  and  Mr.  B.  F.  Hawksley.  With  the 
exception  of  Mr.  Alfred  Beit,  who  has  died  recently,  they 
are  the  existing  Rhodes  Trustees. 

The  special  conditions  and  regulations  governing  the 
election  of  the  South  African  Rhodes  scholars  will  be 
found  in  an  Appendix. 2  It  remains,  however,  to  identify 
the  four  schools  in  the  Cape  Province  to  which  scholar- 
ships were  assigned  in  the  will.  The  "  South  African 
College  School "  is  better  known  as  the  South  African 
College ;  the  "  Stellenbosch  College  School "  is  the 
Victoria  College,  Stellenbosch  ;  the  "  Diocesan  College 
School  at  Rondesbosch,"  better  known  as  the  Diocesan 

1  Elections  of  Rhodes'  scholars  were  held  in  1910  and  1911  : 
none,  therefore,  will  be  held  in  the  present  year  (1912). 

2  See  p.  483. 

476 


NATIVE   EDUCATION 

College,  has  been  absorbed  into  the  South  African  College  ; 
and  the  "St.  Andrew's  College  School  at  Grahamstown  " 
has  been  converted  into  the  Rhodes  University  College, 
Grahamstown. 

NATIVE  EDUCATION 

In  all  provinces  of  the  Union,  grants  are  made  for  the 
purposes  of  native  education.  According  to  the  general 
practice  in  South  Africa,  the  Education  Departments  do 
not,  with  slight  exceptions,  undertake  directly  the  work 
of  instructing  the  native  and  coloured  population,  but 
they  utilise  the  services  of  religious  bodies  in  this  respect, 
subsidising  their  mission  schools  and  other  educational 
institutions.  The  classes  of  institutions  thus  recognised 
as  entitled  to  Government  assistance  are  :  (1)  Elementary 
schools,  (2)  trade  and  industrial  schools,  and  (3)  training 
colleges  for  native  teachers  ;  and  all  institutions  receiving 
grants-in-aid  are  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Department,  and  expected  to  maintain  a  moderate 
standard  of  efficiency  in  respect  of  teaching  staff  and 
general  equipment. 

This  system,  naturally,  has  sufficed  to  bring  only  a 
fraction  of  the  native  population  of  the  Union  under 
regular  instruction.  At  the  date  of  the  Union,  the  Cape 
Province,  with  a  non-European  population  of  nearly 
2,000,000,  had  a  native  (and  coloured)  enrolment  of 
rather  more  than  100,000  scholars.  In  Natal,  on  June 
30th,  1909,  there  were  178  native,  19  coloured,  and  35 
Indian  schools  ;  and  at  these  schools,  out  of  a  total  non- 
European  population  of  over  1,000,000,  there  were  respec- 
tively 12,484  native,  902  coloured,  and  3,245  Indian 
scholars  in  attendance.  In  the  Transvaal,  where  the 
non-European  population  numbers  1,250,000,  £10,833  13s. 
was  spent  on  native  education  during  the  year  ended 
May  31st,  1910  ;  and  at  this  date  there  were  230  Govern- 
ment-aided and  179  unaided  native  schools,  with  an 

477 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


average  attendance  of  9,942  and  5,803  pupils  respectively. 
As  will  be  seen  from  the  subjoined  table,  this  return 
marks  the  attainment  of  a  considerable  advance  since 
the  war. 

Table  showing  progress  of  native  education  in  the 
Transvaal : 


Number  o 

f  Schools. 

Year. 

Aided  by 
Govt. 

Unaided. 

Total. 

Amount  of 
Govt.  Grant. 

£       s-    *. 

1903..      . 

7 

155 

164  (sic) 

1Q04 

A 

157 

1fi1   (sir} 

1905..      . 

142 

134 

276 

5,850     0     0 

1906..      . 

197 

177 

374 

6,592  13     0 

1907-8     . 

221 

125 

346 

8,554  17  10 

1908-9     . 

243 

141 

384 

10,976  17     3 

1909-10   . 

230 

179 

409 

10,883  13     0 

In  the  Free  State  a  small  grant  for  native  education  is 
given  directly  to  the  religious  bodies,  by  whom  it  is 
appropriated  to  the  various  teaching  institutions  ;  and 
in  this  province  there  were  at  the  date  of  the  Union 
some  10,000  native  children  under  instruction  out  of  a 
non-European  population  of  350,000. 

The  greatest  progress  in  native  education  is  to  be 
found  naturally  in  the  Cape  Province,  the  oldest  and 
most  settled  portion  of  South  Africa,  where  for  more  than 
a  century  such  work  has  been  carried  on  by  missionary 
enterprise.  Among  the  products  of  this  enterprise,  the 
Lovedale  Missionary  College  is,  perhaps,  the  most  remark- 
able ;  and  it  may  be  cited  as  an  institution  with  so  long 
and  successful  a  career  that  its  records  afford  reliable 
data  for  measuring  the  extent  to  which  a  judicious  system 
of  education  may  be  expected  to  raise  the  economic 
capacity  of  the  native  population  of  South  Africa.  The 

478 


STANDARD    OF   EDUCATION 

institution  embraces  (1)  a  collegiate  department  for  train- 
ing native  clergy  and  teachers  ;  (2)  workshops  in  which 
young  men  are  taught  bookbinding,  printing,  and  the 
trades  of  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  and  the  like,  and  young 
women  sewing  and  laundry  work  and  the  like  ;  and  (3) 
elementary  schools  for  boys  and  girls. 

As  the  result  of  the  work  done  by  Lovedale  and  similar 
institutions,  educated  natives  have  been  employed  for 
many  years  past  as  carriers  of  letters,  telegrams,  and 
parcels ;  have  occupied  responsible  positions  as  clerks, 
interpreters,  schoolmasters,  and  sewing-mistresses  by  the 
hundred ;  and,  in  still  larger  numbers,  have  practised 
successfully  the  trades  of  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  brick- 
layers, tinsmiths,  wagon-makers,  shoemakers,  printers, 
sailmakers,  saddlers,  and  the  like.  Here,  in  the  Cape 
Province,  where  to-day  5  per  cent,  of  the  non-European 
population  are  under  instruction,  newspapers  are  printed 
in  the  language  of  the  natives  ;  and  in  this  province 
alone,  as  we  have  seen,  natives  and  coloured  people  are 
admitted  to  the  Parliamentary  franchise,  and  a  system 
of  local  government  has  been  established  among  the 
purely  native  populations  of  its  dependent  territories. 

These  broad  facts  may  be  supplemented  usefully  in  one 
or  two  particulars  by  the  Returns  of  the  "  Statistical 
Register "  of  the  Cape  Province.  Evidence  of  the 
standard  of  education  which  prevails  respectively  among 
the  European  and  non-European  population  is  afforded 
in  the  following  figures  :  On  a  basis  of  the  census  of  1904, 
there  were  in  this  province  (out  of  a  total  population  of 
2,409,804)  621,037  persons  who  could  both  read  and  write, 
of  whom  434,827  were  Europeans  and  186,210  "other 
than  Europeans  "  ;  45,897  persons  could  read  only,  of 
whom  10,338  were  Europeans  and  35,559  "  other  than 
Europeans  "  ;  1,735,491  persons  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  of  whom  133,569  were  Europeans  and  1,601,922 
"  other  than  Europeans  "  ;  and  7,379  persons  remained 

479 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

unspecified.  In  the  return  showing  the  various  "  Occupa- 
tions "  of  the  people  of  the  province,  we  find  that,  in  1904, 
some  6,000  natives  and  coloured  people  were  engaged  in 
"Professional,"  and  some  20,000  in  "Commercial/' 
occupations  ;  the  corresponding  figures  for  Europeans 
being  32,202  and  46,750  respectively.  A  third  return— 
and  one  of  special  interest — is  that  which  gives  the 
number  of  registered  Parliamentary  voters  in  the  51 
electoral  divisions  of  the  province,  as  proclaimed  by  the 
Governor-General  in  Council  on  June  23rd,  1910,  i.e., 
the  voters  by  whom  the  first  Union  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment for  the  province  were  elected.  According  to  this 
return,  the  total  electorate  of  the  province  numbered 
142,367  ;  and  of  this  total  121,346  were  European,  and 
21,021  "  other  than  European/'  voters.  The  coloured 
vote  was  composed  of  :  Kafir  and  Fingo,  6,633  ;  Hotten- 
tot, 715  ;  Malay,  911;  Indian,  764  ;  Chinese,  20  ;  other 
mixed  and  coloured  races,  11,978. 

HIGHER  EDUCATION  FOR  NATIVES 

The  claim  of  the  native  population  to  possess  an 
institution  of  higher  education  has  recently  been  brought 
before  the  Minister  of  Education.  The  proposal  is  that 
recommended  by  the  Native  Affairs  Commission  of  1903-5 ; 
namely,  that  an  inter-State  (or  Union)  College  should  be 
established,  which  would  serve  the  whole  native  popula- 
tion of  the  Union,  and,  as  such,  would  be  equipped  upon 
an  adequate  scale.  The  purpose  of  such  an  institution 
would  be  to  enable  any  really  exceptional  men  of  the 
Bantu  races  to  obtain  University  degrees,  and  in  other 
respects  to  qualify  for  professional  careers  and  possibly 
for  public  life. 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  South 
Africa,  as  in  India,  there  is  a  certain  danger  attaching  to 
the  premature  extension  of  educational  privileges  to  the 
native  races.  In  recent  years  a  practical  example  of  this 

480 


ETHIOPIANISM 

danger  has  been  afforded  in  the  rise  of  Ethiopian! sm  ; 
and  a  brief  account  of  this  movement  will  provide 
evidence  of  the  nature  and  reality  of  the  danger  in 
question. 

THE  ETHIOPIAN  OR  CHURCH  SEPARATIST  MOVEMENT 

Such  an  account  is  to  be  found  in  the  Report  of  the 
Native  Affairs  Commission  of  1903-5.  The  movement, 
says  the  Report,  has  had  its  origin  in  "  a  desire  on  the 
part  of  a  section  of  the  Christianised  natives  to  be  freed 
from  control  by  European  Churches.  Its  ranks  are 
recruited  from  every  denomination  carrying  on  extensive 
operations  in  South  Africa,  and  there  is  in  each  case  little 
or  no  doctrinal  divergence  from  the  tenets  of  the  parent 
Church,  though  it  is  alleged,  and  the  Commission  fears 
with  truth,  that  relaxed  strictness  in  the  moral  standard 
maintained  frequently  follows." 

And  the  substance  of  the  conclusions  at  which  the 
Commission  arrived  is  thus  stated  : 

The  Ethiopian  Movement,  now  represented  by  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  Ethiopian  Order  in  the  Church 
of  England,  and  numerous  semi-organised  schismatic  fragments 
detached  from  every  denomination  ...  is  the  outcome  of  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  Natives  for  ecclesiastical  self-support 
and  self-control,  first  taking  tangible  form  in  the  secession  of 
discontented  and  restless  spirits  from  religious  bodies  under  the 
supervision  of  European  Missionaries  without  any  previous 
external  incitation  thereto.  Further,  that  upon  the  affiliation  of 
certain  of  these  seceders  and  their  followings  to  the  African 
Melodist  Episcopal  Church  lamentable  want  of  discrimination 
was  displayed  by  the  first  emissaries  to  South  Africa  in  the 
ordination  to  the  ministry  of  unsuitable  men. 

The  Commission  is  not  disposed  to  condemn  the  aspiration 
after  religious  independence,  unassociated  with  mischievous 
political  propaganda,  but  at  the  same  time  does  not  fail  to 
recognise  that  in  the  case  of  a  subject  race  such  an  aspiration 
misdirected,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  leadership  of  ignorant 
and  misguided  men,  and  repressed  by  misunderstanding  or 
harshness  on  the  other,  might  be  fraught  with  the  seeds  of  social 
mistrust  and  discontent.  .  .  . 

481 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

The  Commission  would  not  advise  any  measure  of  legislative 
repression,  unless  unforeseen  developments  render  it  necessary, 
considering  that  effort  should  rather  be  directed  towards  securing 
efficient  constitutional  control  and  organisation  in  order  that  the 
influences  at  work  may  be  wisely  directed,  and  any  individual 
cases  in  which  pastors  abuse  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  may  be 
amenable  to  authoritative  discipline.  To  this  end  the  Com- 
mission would  deprecate  the  recognition  of  detached  secessional 
fragments  acknowledging  no  efficient  central  authority. 

THE  NATIVE  PRESS 

Of  the  Native  Press  the  same  authoritative  Report 
writes,  that  "  the  mere  fact  of  its  existence  is  a  proof  of 
rapid  educational  advancement."  On  the  whole,  it  has 
"  proved  itself  to  be  fairly  accurate  in  tracing  the  course 
of  passing  events,  and  useful  in  extending  the  range  of 
native  information.  ...  It  cannot  be  said  that  nothing 
but  good  has  accrued  from  it,  but  an  infant  Press  could 
not  be  expected  to  be  wholly  free  from  mistakes  and 
indiscretions.  Although  the  organs  claiming  to  express 
native  opinion  may  not  have  been  infallible,  freedom  of 
thought  and  speech  within  lawful  limits  is  not  likely  to 
be  assailed."  And  it  adds  that  "  though  a  minority  in 
the  Commission  favoured  the  enactment  of  a  law  to 
punish  persons  responsible  for  publications  in  the  native 
language  creating  distrust  and  animosity  between  the 
races,  or  likely  to  produce  conflict  between  them,"  the 
motion  was  negatived  after  careful  consideration.1 

1  "  Report  of  the  South  African  Native  Affairs  Commission, 
1903-05."  Cd.  2399.  This  Report  (and  the  evidence  taken  by 
the  Commission)  contains  valuable  and  authoritative  information 
upon  all  questions  connected  with  the  native  races  of  South 
Africa.  It  is  one  of  the  many  contributions  made  by  the  Milner 
regime  to  the  political  and  economic  progress  of  South  Africa. 


482 


APPENDIX   TO   CHAPTER   IV 
PART  V 

THE    RHODES   SCHOLARSHIPS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA 

Extracts  from  the  Memorandum  issued  by  the  Trustees  of 
the  Will  of  the  late  Mr.  Cecil  Rhodes  for  the  information  of 
educational  authorities  and  intending  candidates  for  Scholarships 
in  South  Africa  : 

The  Scholarships  are  of  the  value  of  £300  a  year  ;  and  are 
tenable  for  three  years. 

The  election  of  Scholars  in  South  Africa  must  each  year  be 
completed  at  a  date  not  later  than  the  1st  of  January,  unless  by 
special  permission  of  the  Trustees.  The  Scholars  will  begin 
residence  at  Oxford  in  October  of  the  year  for  which  they  are  elected. 

CONDITIONS  OF  ELIGIBILITY 

All  candidates  shall  be  British  subjects,  and  unmarried. 
Subsequent  to  the  election  for  the  year  1912,  all  candidates 
from  Rhodesia  and  Natal  must  have  passed  their  nineteenth 
but  not  have  passed  their  twenty-fourth  birthday  on  October  1st 
of  the  year  for  which  they  are  elected  ;  and  such  candidates 
(except  any  educated  in  England,  from  whom  Responsions  will 
be  required)  must  have  passed  at  least  the  Intermediate  Examina- 
tion of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  four  University  College 
Schools  of  the  Cape  Province,  which  elect  under  special  regula- 
tions approved  by  the  Trustees,  have  been  asked  to  conform  to 
the  same  lower  limit  of  age  and  University  standing  in  the 
selection  of  their  scholars. 

All  candidates,  unless  specially  excused,  must  either 

(1)  have  passed  the  Oxford  Responsions  Examination  or  its 
equivalent ;  or  (2)  have  passed  the  Intermediate  Examination 
of  the  University  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  have  satis- 
fied the  Examiners  at  that  examination  in  Latin  and  Mathe- 
matics ;  or  (3)  have  qualified  for  the  Standing  of  a  Junior  or 
Senior  Colonial  Student  at  Oxford  under  the  Colonial 
Universities  Statute. 

The  following  are  the  Decrees  which  determine  the  standing  at 
Oxford  of  Students  from  the  University  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  : 
(1)  FOR  SENIOR  STANDING. — "  That  any  Member  of  the 
University  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  who  shall  have  passed 
at  the  University  either  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  Honours  Examina- 
tion, or,  after  the  first  day  of  January,  1905,  Part  I  of  the 
Master  of  Arts  Examination,  shall  be  deemed  to  have  taken 
Honours  as  required  by  the  provisions  of  Statt.  Tit.  11. 
Sect.  VIII  cl.  5  "  (and,  therefore,  be  eligible  for  admission  to 
the  status  and  privileges  of  a  Senior  Colonial  Student). 

483 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

(2)  FOR  JUNIOR  STANDING. — "  That  any  member  of  the 
University  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  who  either  (a)  shall  have 
passed  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  Examination  at  that  University  ; 
or  (b)  having  passed  the  Intermediate  Examination  at  that 
University  shall  have  subsequently  pursued  a  course  of  study 
extending  over  at  least  one  year  at  one  of  the  Colleges  named 
in  the  Schedule  appended  to  this  Decree,  shall  be  eligible  for 
admission  to  the  status  and  privileges  of  a  Junior  Colonial 
Student." 

SCHEDULE 

The  South  African  College,  Capetown. 

The  Victoria  College,  Stellenbosch. 

The  Diocesan  College,  Rondesbosch. 

The  Rhodes  University  College,  Grahamstown. 
If  necessary,  arrangements  will  be  made  for  the  conduct  of  an 
examination  equivalent  to  Responsions  at  Capetown,  Grahams- 
town,  and  convenient  centres  in  Natal  and  Rhodesia.  Oxford 
Examiners  will  prepare  the  papers  and  report  on  the  examina- 
tion in  the  usual  way,  and  the  University  of  Oxford  agrees  to 
accept  in  lieu  of  Responsions  the  Certificate  of  its  Examiners 
that  candidates  have  passed  this  Examination  in  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Mathematics.  While  it  is  necessary  to  pass  in  these  three 
subjects  in  order  to  be  exempt  from  Responsions,  a  candidate 
will  be  accepted  as  eligible  to  a  Rhodes  Scholarship  who  may 
have  passed  in  Latin  and  Mathematics,  but  not  in  Greek.  Such 
candidate  will  be  held  by  the  University  of  Oxford  to  have 
passed  Responsions  only  when  he  shall  have  further  passed  in 
Greek,  either  at  Responsions  (in  Oxford)  or  at  an  examination 
conducted,  on  behalf  of  the  Rhodes  Trustees,  by  the  Oxford 
University  Delegacy  of  Local  Examinations. 

The  following  Special  Conditions  of  Eligibility  apply  within 
the  Colony  and  Provinces  named  : 

(a)  THE  PROVINCE  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. — Candi- 
dates must  have  been  educated  at  one  of  the  Schools  to  which 
the  Scholarships  are  assigned.     These  Schools,  however,  may 
elect  as   Scholars  students  who  have  pursued  their  studies, 
after  leaving  School,  at  one  of  the  higher  institutions  of  the 
Province.     Further  information   may  be   obtained   from   the 
School  authorities. 

(b)  NATAL. — Candidates  are  required  (i)  to  have  been  edu- 
cated in  the  Province  of  Natal  for  six  continuous  years  imme- 
diately previous  to  the  date  of  election,  or  (ii)  to  have  their 
legal  domicile  in  Natal  for  six  years,  though  acquiring  their 
education,  or  any  part  of  it,  in  any  other  Colony  or  Province 
of  South  Africa.     The  Committee  of  Selection  is  free  to  make 
allowance,  at  its  discretion,  for  temporary  absences  from  the 
Province  or  from  South  Africa  during  the  six  years  referred  to. 

484 


SPECIAL   CONDITIONS 

(c)  RHODESIA. — In  view  of  existing  educational  conditions, 
leave  is  occasionally  given  at  present  by  the  Trustees  for 
candidates  to  compete  for  the  Scholarships  assigned  to 
Rhodesia  who  are  being  educated  in  other  parts  of  Africa  or 
in  England,  provided  that  their  parents  reside  in  or  are  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  Colony.  In  these  instances,  the 
candidate  is  allowed  to  take  Responsions  or  its  equivalent, 
either  in  England  or  in  the  Colony  or  Province  where  he  is 
receiving  his  education.  Application  for  leave  to  compete 
under  these  conditions  must  be  made  to  the  Trustees,  either 
directly  or  through  the  Director  of  Education  for  Rhodesia. 
Other  things  being  equal,  preference  will  be  given  to  candidates 
educated  in  Rhodesia. 

SELECTION   OF   SCHOLARS 

In  accordance  with  the  wish  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  the  Trustees 
desire  that  "  in  the  election  of  a  student  to  a  Scholarship  regard 
shall  be  had  to  (i)  his  literary  and  scholastic  attainments  ;  (ii) 
his  fondness  for  and  success  in  manly  outdoor  sports,  such  as 
cricket,  football,  and  the  like  ;  (iii)  his  qualities  of  manhood, 
truth,  courage,  devotion  to  duty,  sympathy  for  and  protection 
of  the  weak,  kindliness,  unselfishness,  and  fellowship  ;  and  (iv) 
his  exhibition  during  schooldays  of  moral  force  of  character,  and 
of  instincts  to  lead  and  to  take  an  interest  in  his  schoolmates." 
Mr.  Rhodes  suggested  that  (ii)  and  (iii)  should  be  decided  in  any 
School  or  College  by  the  votes  of  fellow-students,  and  (iv)  by 
the  Head  of  the  School  or  College.  Where  circumstances  render 
it  impracticable  to  carry  out  the  letter  of  these  suggestions  as  to 
the  method  of  selection,  the  Trustees  hope  that  every  effort  will 
be  made  to  give  effect  to  their  spirit,  but  desire  it  to  be  under- 
stood that  the  final  decision  must  rest  with  the  Committee  of 
Selection,  or  the  School  making  an  appointment. 

Each  candidate  for  a  Scholarship  is  required  to  furnish  with 
his  application  : 

(a)  A  certificate  showing  that  he  is  within  the  prescribed 
limit  of  age. 

(b)  A    full    statement    of   his    School    and    College    career, 
including  his  educational  qualifications,  his  record  in  athletics, 
and  such  testimonials  from  his  masters   at  School  and  his 
professors  at  College,  in  reference  to  the  qualities  indicated  by 
Mr.  Rhodes,  as  seem  best  adapted  to  guide  the  judgment  of 
those  making  the  appointment. 

If  a  careful  comparison  of  these  records  and  personal  inter- 
views do  not  furnish  sufficient  grounds  for  making  a  decision, 
those  making  the  appointment  are  free  to  apply  to  the  candi- 
dates, or  to  any  selected  number  of  them,  such  further  intellectual 
or  other  tests  as  they  may  consider  necessary. 

485 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

The  following  regulations  as  to  the  selection  of  Scholars  apply 
within  the  special  Colony  or  Province  named  : 

(1)  THE  PROVINCE  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. — Under 
the  provisions  of  the  Will  of  Mr.  Rhodes  the  four  Schools  to 
which  Scholarships  are  assigned  in  the  Province  of  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  have  the  right  of  electing  the  Scholar.     This  is 
done  under  special  regulations  approved  by  the  Trustees  for 
each  School.     Further  information  may  be  obtained  from  the 
School  authorities. 

(2)  NATAL. — In  Natal   the  final  choice  of  the  Scholars  is 
entrusted  to  the  following  Committee  of  Selection  : 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  in  his  private  capacity  (Chairman) . 
The  Honourable  the  Chief  Justice. 
The  Superintendent  of  Education. 

Application    should    be    made    to    the    Superintendent    of 
Education. 

(3)  RHODESIA. — In    Rhodesia    the    Director    of    Education 
receives   the   application   of   candidates,    together   with   their 
credentials    and    testimonials,    and    submits    them    with    his 
recommendations  to  the  Trustees  for  approval. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Selection,  or  the  Head 
Master  of  the  School  making  appointment,  should  at  once  notify 
to  the  Trustees  and  to  Mr.  F.  J.  Wylie,  9  South  Parks  Road, 
Oxford,  the  name  of  the  elected  Scholar,  and  should  forward  to 
the  latter  all  the  records,  credentials,  and  testimonials  relating 
to  the  Scholar  on  which  the  election  was  made.  These  papers 
should  be  transmitted  immediately,  as  they  are  used  in  con- 
sulting the  College  authorities  in  regard  to  the  admission  of 
Scholars.  It  has  been  the  experience  of  past  years  that  Scholars 
have  frequently  been  unable  to  gain  admission  to  any  of  the 
Colleges  of  their  preference  owing  to  remissness  in  forwarding  to 
Mr.  Wylie  the  necessary  information. 

Unless  specially  exempted,  Scholars  will  be  expected  (1)  to 
reside  in  College  for  at  least  two  years,  and  (2)  to  take  any  degree 
for  which  they  may  have  qualified. 

The  Scholarship  will  be  paid  in  quarterly  instalments,  the  first 
on  beginning  residence  at  Oxford,  and  thereafter  terminally, 
provided  that  the  College  to  which  any  Scholar  may  belong  be 
satisfied  with  his  work  and  conduct.  Marriage  vacates  the 
Scholarship.  Should  a  Scholarship  lapse  through  the  failure  of 
a  student  to  give  satisfaction  to  his  College,  from  marriage,  from 
resignation,  or  from  any  other  cause,  it  will  not  be  filled  up  until 
the  year  in  which  it  would  naturally  expire.  This  provision  is 
made  in  order  not  to  interfere  with  the  rota  of  succeeding  Scholars. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  office  of  the  Rhodes  Trust  is  Seymour 
House,  Waterloo  Place,  London,  S.W.  ;  and  that  letters  should 
be  addressed  to  the  Secretary. 

486 


v 


CHAPTER  V 

IMMIGRATION,    LAND   SETTLEMENT,   AND 
COST  OF  LIVING 

THE  preceding  pages  will  have  shown  that  South  Africa, 
under  its  present  political  and  economic  conditions,  does 
not  present  the  free  field  for  British  emigrants  which  is 
offered  by  Canada,  and,  in  a  lesser  degree,  by  Australia 
and  New  Zealand.  The  presence  of  the  native  races  and 
the  high  cost  of  living  to  Europeans,  taken  together, 
practically  exclude  the  British  manual  or  unskilled 
labourer ;  and  the  number  of  British  skilled  artisans 
and  mechanics,  clerks,  shop-assistants,  governesses, 
women  typewriters,  telephonists,  domestic  servants  and 
the  like,  which  the  (mainly  British)  industrial  community 
can  absorb,  is  very  limited.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fore- 
going accounts  of  the  mineral  wealth  and  agricultural 
resources  of  South  Africa  will  have  made  it  no  less  plain, 
that  to  the  man  who  combines  the  possession  of  capital, 
large  or  small,  with  youth,  energy,  and  capacity,  it  is  a 
land  of  infinite  possibilities.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten 
that  if  South  Africa  has  proved  in  the  past  "  the  grave 
of  reputations,"  it  has  been,  none  the  less,  a  nursery  of 
great  careers  in  geographical  discovery,  politics,  war,  and 
industry.  And,  here,  where  the  names  of  Livingstone 
and  Rhodes  illustrate  Napoleon's  paradox,  even  to-day 
the  youngest  recruit  may  carry  a  field-marshal's  baton 
in  his  knapsack. 

While,  however,  at  the  time  of  writing,  the  amount  of 
employment  open  to  British  and  other  emigrants  is  very 
small,  Ministers  in  the  Union  Government  have  recently 
made  declarations  indicating  an  intention  to  accelerate 
the  operation  of  the  agencies  already  at  work  for 

487 

32— (a  1 39) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

modifying  the  economic  and  social  conditions  which 
hitherto  have  most  effectively  restricted  immigration. 
In  particular,  it  would  appear  to  be  the  desire  of  the 
Government  to  create  a  class  of  white  labourers  such  as 
is  to  be  found  in  Canada  and  Australia  ;  and  it  is  pro- 
posed to  inaugurate  a  scheme  of  land-settlement  which 
will  make  it  possible  for  immigrants  with  small  capital  to 
take  up  agricultural  holdings.  Whether  these  special 
efforts  will  or  will  not  prove  successful,  time  alone  can 
show.  But  a  change  in  the  conditions  hitherto  governing 
the  economic  position  of  the  European  community  in 
South  Africa  must  be  counted  among  the  possibilities 
of  the  immediate  future. 

In  these  circumstances  it  will  be  convenient,  first,  to 
set  down  the  little  that  can  be  said  usefully  in  respect  of 
the  opportunities  offered  to  new  arrivals  by  South  Africa 
under  its  existing  conditions,  and  then  to  pass  on  to  the 
discussion  of  the  White  Labour  and  Land  Settlement 
proposals  of  the  Government,  and  the  changes  to  which 
they  point. 

As  we  have  seen,  then,  manual  labour  is  for  the  time 
being  entirely  ruled  out,  and  the  wage-earners  who  are 
required,  whether  they  work  with  hands  or  head,  are 
principally  of  the  classes  enumerated  above.  The  normal 
demand  for  such  emigrants,  collectively,  is  small,  and  the 
extent  to  which  one  or  other  particular  class  may  be 
wanted  will  vary,  of  course,  from  time  to  time.  When, 
for  example,  the  Camp  Schools  were  established  during 
the  progress  of  the  war,  the  local  supply  of  teachers 
proved  altogether  inadequate,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
obtain  large  numbers  of  elementary  teachers  from  the 
United  Kingdom  and  the  Oversea  Dominions.  Or,  again, 
a  rapid  extension  of  the  telegraph  or  telephone  system 
might  make  it  necessary  to  supplement  the  local  supply 
of  operators,  whether  men  or  women,  by  candidates 
drawn  from  Europe.  The  latest  and  most  reliable 

488 


OPENINGS    FOR   WAGE-EARNERS 

information  in  respect  of  all  normal  and  exceptional 
openings  for  wage-earners  is  to  be  obtained  from  the 
Circulars  issued  at  frequent  intervals  by  the  Emigrants' 
Information  Office ; l  and  from  the  same  source  all 
necessary  particulars  relating  to  "  Assisted  Passages/' 
"  Prohibited  Immigrants,"  "  Arrangements  for  Land- 
ing/' "  Shipping  Companies,"  "  Railways/1  "  Clothing," 
and  many  other  practical  matters  can  be  learnt  whether 
by  the  intending  emigrant  or  the  traveller.  Women 
emigrants  are  recommended  to  apply  also  to  the  South 
African  Colonisation  Society, 2  where  they  will  hear  of 
the  special  arrangements  made  to  secure  their  comfort 
and  safety  during  the  voyage  and  upon  arrival  in  South 
Africa,  as  well  as  obtain  information  in  respect  of  vacan- 
cies for  (female)  domestic  servants  and  other  forms 
of  employment  open  to  women. 

WHAT  AGRICULTURE  OFFERS 

Setting  aside  the  occasional  appointments,  public  and 
private,  open  only  to  persons  possessing  special  profes- 
sional qualifications,  the  main  field  of  activity  offered  by 
South  Africa  to  the  man  of  good  education  and  moderate 
capital  is  agriculture  in  some  form  or  other,  coupled  with 
the  acquisition  and  development  of  land.  The  wide 
range  of  the  products,  animal  and  vegetable,  for  each  of 
which  South  Africa  provides  a  suitable  soil  and  climate, 
has  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  reader  on  more  than 

1  Emigrants'  Information  Office  :  34  Broadway.  Westminster, 
S.W.  Office  hours  :  10  a.m.  to  5  p.m.  ;  Saturdays,  10  a.m.  to 
1.30  p.m.  Letters  to  the  Emigrants'  Information  Office  need 
not  be  stamped.  The  circulars  are  free  ;  but  a  small  charge 
(from  Id.  to  6d.)  is  made  for  "handbooks,"  and  this  must  be 
prepaid. 

8  At  23  Army  and  Navy  Mansions  (No.  2),  115  Victoria  Street, 
Westminster,  S.W.  This  organisation  is,  like  the  Emigrants' 
Information  Office,  under  the  control  of  the  Colonial  Office. 

489 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

one  occasion  ;  and  the  characteristics  both  of  these 
various  industries  and  of  the  localities  in  which  they 
respectively  flourish,  have  been  indicated  in  an  earlier 
chapter.1  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  recall  how  large  and 
generous  a  measure  of  assistance  is  given  by  the  State 
to  agriculture,  or  to  point  out  that  a  country  which 
registers  more  hours  of  bright  sunshine  than  Monte  Carlo 
or  California,  should  be  alike  pleasant  and  profitable  to 
a  man  whose  business  lies  almost  wholly  out  of  doors. 
On  these  heads,  therefore,  it  will  be  sufficient  merely  to 
summarise  facts  elsewhere  stated  at  length,  by  observing 
that  the  choice  of  occupation  and  investment,  open  to 
the  "  settler  "  of  this  class,  ranges  from  tobacco  and 
cotton-growing,  or  the  breeding  of  ostriches  and  Angoras, 
to  the  familiar  "  corn  and  cattle  "  of  an  English  farm,  and 
that  some  of  these  special  industries  carry  with  them  the 
prospect  of  ample  profits.  One  further  point,  however, 
must  be  mentioned.  In  respect  of  labour,  the  farmer, 
or  planter,  has  the  advantage  of  the  mine-owner.  The 
cultivation  of  the  soil  and  the  tending  of  cattle  form, 
apart  from  war,  the  general  and  natural  occupation  of 
the  African  natives.  Mining,  and  especially  the  under- 
ground work  of  the  mines,  they  dislike,  and  high  wages 
are  necessary  to  induce  them  to  engage  in  it ;  but  native 
labour  can  be  obtained  for  agriculture  more  easily,  and 
is  paid  at  lesser  rates.  The  agricultural  employer,  there- 
fore, may  expect  to  benefit  fully  from  the  great  industrial 
asset  possessed  by  South  Africa  in  its  large  native 
population. 

These  are  conspicuous  advantages  ;  and,  at  first  sight, 
it  seems  strange  that  comparatively  few  Englishmen 
should  have  been  found  to  take  up  the  pursuit  of  agri- 
culture in  South  Africa.  The  explanation  lies  in  the 
circumstance  that  the  initial  expenditure  required  of  the 
settler  is  considerably  larger  here  than  in  other  Dominions. 

1  Part  IV,  Chap.  IV,  p.  332. 

490 


THE   PURSUIT   OF   AGRICULTURE 

Local  experience  enjoins  that  the  area  of  the  holding 
should  be  relatively  large.  While  the  average  size  of  a 
farm  in  England  is  66,  and  in  the  United  States  143, 
acres,  in  the  Transvaal  it  is  5,000  acres.  And  in  South 
Africa  it  is  generally  held  that  1,000  acres  is  the  smallest 
area  with  which  a  man  can  hope  to  start  farming  success- 
fully, and  that,  over  and  above  the  capital  necessary  for 
the  purchase  or  rental  of  the  land,  he  should  have  at 
least  £1,000  for  stock,  buildings,  and  general  equipment 
— or  just  five  times  the  £200  considered  necessary  for  the 
settler  in  Canada  with  a  holding  of  from  160  to  640  acres. 
It  will  be  understood,  of  course,  that  this  estimate  of  the 
capital  and  acreage  required  refers  to  average  men  and 
average  land,  and  does  not  pretend  to  cover  exceptional 
cases.  In  respect  of  (Southern)  Rhodesia,  the  advice  on 
this  head  given  to  possible  settlers  is  : 

Self-reliance,  combined  with  a  recognition  of  the  necessity  for 
individual  effort,  will  be  found  as  valuable  a  qualification  in 
Rhodesia  as  in  any  other  country.  ...  It  is  impossible  to  say 
what  is  the  least  amount  of  capital  a  man  can  start  with,  with 
good  prospects  of  success,  as  so  much  depends  on  the  man  him- 
self. It  is  generally  considered,  however,  that  by  the  time  he  is 
able  to  take  up  his  farm  he  should  have  at  least  £500  at  his  dis- 
posal if  single,  and  naturally,  the  more  capital  a  man  has  the 
better  his  chance  in  Rhodesia,  as  elsewhere.  A  married  man 
obviously  requires  more  capital.  * 

The  total  area  of  the  unalienated  Crown  Lands  within 
the  Union  is  stated  in  the  recent  Closer  Settlement  Report 
to  be  46,442,141  acres  ;  but,  of  course,  only  a  very  small 
proportion  of  this  great  public  estate  would  be  ready  for 
immediate  occupation  by  settlers.  The  terms  and  con- 
ditions upon  which  public  land  can  be  acquired  in  the 
Union  and  Rhodesia  do  not  differ  greatly  from  Those  in 
force  in  the  other  oversea  dominions  ;  and  in  return  for 
covenants  to  occupy  personally,  and  erect  buildings, 
cultivate,  etc.,  they  afford  the  customary  facilities  of  the 

1  Handbook  issued  in  September,  1911,  by  the  British  South 
Africa  Company,  2  London  Wall  Buildings,  E.G. 

491 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

deferred  payment  of  purchase  money,  rental  with  power 
to  purchase,  and  advances  for  permanent  improvements 
at  low  rates  of  interest.  The  latest  as  well  as  the  most 
authoritative  information  on  such  points,  however,  should 
be  obtained ;  and  for  this  purpose  application  should  be 
made  to  the  Government  Departments  concerned. 

In  the  case  of  the  Union,  requests  for  information  in 
respect  of  vacant  Crown  Lands  ready  for  occupation,  the 
prices  of  the  different  classes  of  such  lands,  and  the  situa- 
tion and  prices  of  the  private  lands  available  for  purchase, 
should  be  addressed  to  the  Ministry  of  Lands  ;  while 
information  in  respect  of  the  varying  conditions  of  the 
country  as  a  whole,  and  the  soil,  climate,  crops,  etc.,  of 
particular  districts,  should  be  sought  from  the  Ministry 
of  Agriculture.1  If  the  wholly  British  Colony  of  Rho- 
desia be  preferred  to  the  Union,  applications  for  land 
should  be  made  in  writing  to  the  Director  of  Land  Settle- 
ment, at  Salisbury  or  Buluwayo  ;  and,  "  while  the  pur- 
chase of  land  cannot  be  completed  in  England,  general 
information  in  regard  to  land  available  can  be  obtained 
at  the  Company's  Emigration  Offices  at  138  Strand, 
London,  W.C.,  and  140  Buchanan  Street,  Glasgow." 

In  cases  where  an  approved  applicant  has  decided  to 
inspect  land  in  Rhodesia,  moreover,  "  arrangements  are 
made  (provided  adequate  notice  of  the  date  of  his  arrival 
in  the  country  is  given  to  the  Estates  Office,  Salisbury  or 
Buluwayo)  to  show  him  farms  in  districts  which  are 
recommended  by  the  Company  for  settlement,  and  to 
assist  him  to  procure  a  farm  suited  to  his  requirements. 
Free  transport  to  districts  which  are  recommended  for 
settlement  is  provided  for  this  purpose  whenever  possible. 
During  the  months  from  December  to  March  travelling 

1  In  both  cases  applications  should  be  addressed  to  the 
Secretary,  the  Ministry  of  Lands  (or  Agriculture),  Pretoria. 
General  information,  it  is  presumed,  may  be  obtained  in  Eng- 
land from  the  High  Commissioner  for  the  Union  of  South  Africa, 
32  Victoria  Street,  London,  S.W. 

492 


HIGHER   COST   OF   LIVING 

is  difficult  owing  to  the  rains  ;  this  time  of  year  should 
not,  therefore,  be  selected  for  inspecting  land,  as  transport 
cannot  be  guaranteed."  * 

COST  OF  LIVING 

The  purchasing  power  of  the  sovereign  varies  consider- 
ably both  as  between  the  United  Kingdom  and  the 
several  oversea  dominions,  and  as  between  the  dominions 
themselves  ;  and  it  is  lowest  in  South  Africa.  But  the 
degree  in  which  the  cost  of  living  to  the  European  is 
higher  in  South  Africa  than  it  is  elsewhere  is  not  to  be 
measured  entirely  by  this  fact  and  all  that  it  implies. 
In  part,  the  higher  cost  of  living  is  the  result  of  a  higher 
standard  of  living.  The  reluctance  of  the  white  man  to 
perform  manual  labour  has  some  foundation  in  the 
circumstance  that  continuous  physical  effort  is  more 
exhausting  in  South  Africa  than  in  northern  or  central 
Europe,  but  it  arises  mainly  from  the  feeling  that  to  do 
such  work  is  to  put  himself  on  the  same  social  plane  as 
the  native  and  coloured  person.  It  is  Kafir's  work,  and 
so  he  speaks  and  thinks  of  it.  But  the  same  social 
ordinance  which  forbids  the  white  man  to  become  an 
unskilled  labourer,  also  impels  the  married  artisan  to 
employ  a  Kafir  "  boy  "  to  do  the  rough  work  of  his 
house ;  and  the  oversea  Englishman  in  South  Africa,  as 
elsewhere,  demands,  and  generally  obtains,  a  "  fuller 
life  "  than  the  home  Englishman  of  the  corresponding 
class.  He  has  more  opportunity  to  spend  money  upon 
things  which  minister  to  his  comfort  and  his  amusement, 
and,  as  a  rule,  he  makes  full  use  of  it. 

If,  however,  we  limit  the  high  cost  of  living  to  the 
effect  of  the  low  purchasing  power  of  the  sovereign,  or, 
in  other  words,  to  the  general  expensiveness  of  things 
purchased  in  shops  and  of  housing,  whether  the  house  be 

1  Handbook  (as  before).  Excellent  handbooks  (cultural  and 
general)  for  the  information  of  prospective  settlers  in  Rhodesia 
are  to  be  obtained  at  the  Company's  Emigration  Offices. 

493 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

bought  or  rented,  its  origin  can  be  traced  to  certain 
well-defined  economic  causes.  They  are  : 

(1)  The  undeveloped  condition  of  agriculture,  which 
makes  it  necessary  for  South  Africa  to  import  food-stuffs 
in  large  quantities  ;  (2)  the  largeness  of  the  proportion  of 
the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  civilised  life  (other 
than  food-stuffs),  which,  in  the  absence  of  local  manu- 
factures, have  to  be  imported  from  Europe  and  America  ; 
and  (3)  the  long  distance  of  the  inland  centres  of  popula- 
tion from  the  ports,  and  the  consequent  high  cost  of  the 
carriage  of  imported  goods  in  a  country  destitute  of 
waterways. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  these  are  causes  which  do  not 
operate  equally  in  all  areas  of  the  Union  or  among  all 
classes  of  its  European  inhabitants.  Obviously  the 
farmer,  whether  English  or  Dutch,  who  grows  most  of 
the  food  necessary  to  support  himself,  his  family,  and  his 
employes,  is  not  troubled  by  the  expensiveness  of  pro- 
visions in  the  towns.  It  is  the  Englishman,  especially 
the  English  townsman,  who,  while  engaging  in  all  the 
characteristic  pursuits  of  South  Africa,  wants  to  lose  none 
of  the  advantages  of  England — from  the  "  latest  thing  in 
ties  "  to  the  last  new  play  as  presented  by  an  English 
company  on  tour — that  is  most  affected  by  the  high  cost 
of  living.  For  the  information  of  English  employes  and 
wage-earners  in  general,  the  "  South  African  Circular  " 
(Oct.  1st,  1911)  of  the  Emigrants'  Information  Office 
writes  on  this  head : 

House  rent  and  servants'  wages  in  towns  are  dearer  than  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  but  board  and  lodging  for  single  persons 
are  reasonably  cheap.  The  price  of  provisions  varies  a  good  deal ; 
in  easily  accessible  places  it  is  not  much  more  than  at  home,  with 
the  exception  of  vegetables  ;  but  in  places  away  from  railways, 
provisions,  if  not  raised  locally,  are  dear,  owing  to  cost  of  trans- 
port, and  fresh  vegetables  are  very  difficult  to  obtain.  The  cost 
of  living  generally  is  higher  than  in  Europe.  In  Johannesburg, 
the  average  expenditure  of  an  artisan  and  his  wife,  and  three 
children  under  twelve  years  of  age,  for  food,  clothing,  rent,  etc., 

494 


REMEDIAL    MEASURES 


is  estimated  at  £25  a  month,  exclusive  of  medical  attendance, 
tobacco,  or  liquor.  As  the  average  artisan  earns  £26  a  month, 
and  the  average  clerk  £20  to  £24,  either  of  them  would  have  great 
difficulty  in  supporting  a  wife  and  young  family. 

And,  again,  the  inland  provinces  (the  Transvaal  and 
the  Free  State)  are  naturally  more  affected  by  the  cost  of 
transport  than  the  coastal  provinces  (the  Cape  and  Natal)  ; 
and  the  least  expensive  districts  in  the  latter  are  those  in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  ports.  A  convenient 
measure  of  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  living  as  between 
the  coastal  and  the  inland  provinces  of  the  Union,  and  as 
between  the  normal  and  abnormal  districts  in  the  former, 
is  afforded  by  the  scale  of  extra  allowances  on  this  account 
recommended  by  the  Civil  Service  Reorganisation  Com- 
mission. The  passage,  which  is  contained  in  the  First 
Report  of  the  Commission,  is  as  follows : 

Local  non-pensionable  allowances  to  meet  the  extra  costs  of 
living  in  the  more  expensive  portions  of  the  Union  should  be 
given  as  under  : 


Transvaal. 

O.F.S.,  Griqua- 
land  West, 
Bechuanaland, 
N.W.  districts 
of  Cape  and  N. 
of  Zululand. 

In  cases  of  salaries  up  to  £399 
from  £400  to  £700       .. 
from  £701  to  £1,000    .. 
above  £1,000  .. 

£60 
£90 
£120 
£150 

£30 
£45 
£60 
£75 

In  addition  to  the  local  allowance,  a  special  allowance  of  £50 
per  annum  (but  not  to  exceed  £120  in  all)  should  be  given  to 
officers  in  receipt  of  salaries  not  above  £700  per  annum  who  were 
married  prior  to  the  date  of  Union  and  transferred  from  the 
Coast  Provinces  to  the  Transvaal.  The  few  cases  of  such  officers 
removed  from  the  Orange  Free  State  to  the  Transvaal,  or  from 
the  Coastal  Provinces  to  the  Orange  Free  State,  should  be  dealt 
with  on  their  merits. 

REMEDIAL  MEASURES 

The  evil  of  the  high  cost  of  living  to  Europeans,  and, 
in  particular,  its  injurious  influence  in  checking  the 

495 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

growth  of  the  British  industrial  population  in  the 
Transvaal,  were  matters  which  claimed  Lord  Milner's 
closest  attention  ;  and  during  the  period  of  his  administra- 
tion of  the  new  colonies,  not  only  were  measures  taken 
immediately  to  lessen  its  effects,  but  agencies  were  set 
in  motion  calculated,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  remove 
the  causes  from  which  it  arose.  It  was  to  these  measures 
and  agencies,  taken  collectively,  that  Lord  Milner  looked 
for  the  attainment  of  his  economic  policy — a  policy  which 
aimed  at  making  South  Africa  no  less  accessible  to  the 
British  emigrant  than  other  oversea  dominions.  With 
the  one  material  exception  of  the  weakening  of  the 
unskilled  labour  supply  of  the  Union  by  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Chinese  coolies  from  the  gold  industry,  Lord 
Milner's  economic  agencies  have  been  maintained  since 
he  left  South  Africa  (1905).  As  compared,  then,  with 
the  years  immediately  preceding  and  following  the  war, 
the  cost  of  living  in  general,  and  the  cost  of  living  in  the 
inland  provinces  in  particular,  has  been  reduced  appre- 
ciably ;  and,  in  the  absence  of  any  unforeseen  develop- 
ment, it  will  be  reduced  still  further,  as  the  remedial 
agencies  thus  initiated  become  increasingly  effective. 

The  nature  of  these  agencies  will  appear  most  clearly 
if  they  are  considered  in  relation  to  the  three  economic 
causes  of  the  high  cost  of  living,  which  have  been 
distinguished  above  : 

(1)  The  inadequacy  of  the  local  food  supplies.     The 
agencies  tending  to  remedy  this  defect  in  the  economic 
system  of  the  Union  are  (a)  a  generous  measure  of  State- 
aid  to  agriculture — administered  upon  enlightened  lines 
— and  (b)  the  extension  of  the  railway  system,  with  the 
increase  of  railway  facilities  for  the  cheap  and  rapid 
transport  of  provisions  from  the  producer  to  the  consumer. 

(2)  The  exceptional  dependence  of  South  Africa  upon 
imports  other  than  food-stuffs  ;  and  (3)  the  high  cost 
of  their  carriage.     Pending  the  establishment  of  local 

496 


LOCAL   IRON    MANUFACTURE 

manufacturing  industries,  Governmental  action  has  been, 
and  is  being,  employed  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  transport 
of  imported  goods  both  by  sea  and  land.  The  endeavour 
to  reduce  freights  has  continued  from  the  date  when, 
early  in  1903,  Lord  Milner  discussed  the  "  Shipping  Ring  " 
Question  with  Mr.  Chamberlain,  to  the  time  of  writing, 
when  negotiations  are  in  progress  between  the  Union 
Government  and  the  representatives  of  the  Conference 
lines.  And  so  determined  are  the  present  Union  Govern- 
ment to  reduce  the  cost  of  sea  carriage,  that  they  have 
announced  their  intention  of  building  a  fleet  of  ocean- 
going steamships  in  the  event  of  their  failing  to  obtain 
reasonable  concessions  from  the  shipping  companies  con- 
cerned. As  regards  land  transport,  South  Africa,  as  we 
know,  having  no  Mississippi  or  St.  Lawrence — practically 
no  navigable  rivers  at  all — is  almost  entirely  dependent 
upon  railways.  The  National  Convention,  therefore, 
with  a  full  consciousness  of  this  salient  economic  fact, 
has  pledged  the  Union  Government  in  the  South  Africa 
Act  to  abolish  railway  taxation  (or,  in  other  words,  to 
carry  goods  and  passengers  on  the  State  railways  at  cost 
price)  within  the  four  years  terminating  on  May  30th, 
1914.  The  degree  in  which  the  Union  may  be  expected 
to  benefit  ultimately  from  this  measure  has  been  discussed 
already  at  some  length,  and  it  is  unnecessary,  therefore, 
to  refer  again  in  detail  to  this  subject. l  It  may,  however, 
be  noted  under  this  head  that  an  important  development 
of  manufacturing  industry  has  been  made  quite  recently 
by  the  formation  of  the  Union  Steel  Corporation  (of 
South  Africa),  Ltd.,  in  the  Transvaal.  The  immediate 
purpose  of  this  undertaking  is  to  manufacture  commercial 
forms  of  steel  and  iron  for  the  local  market  from  the  large 
quantities  of  scrap  discarded  by  the  mining  industry  and 
the  railways,  and  hitherto  exported  to  England  and  other 
iron  manufacturing  countries.  Its  ultimate  object  is  to 
1  See  Part  IV,  Chap.  II  :  p.  263. 

497 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

produce  and  manufacture  iron  and  steel  from  the  ample 
deposits  of  iron  ore  with  which  the  Transvaal  and  other 
parts  of  South  Africa  are  enriched.  Recognising  the 
economic  importance  of  the  enterprise,  the  Union  Govern- 
ment have  determined  to  support  it ;  and  for  the  first 
sixteen  years  the  Corporation  will  benefit  by  the  following 
forms  of  State  assistance.  The  Government  will  (1)  raise 
the  railway  rates  on  exported  scrap  ;  (2)  carry  scrap 
consigned  to  the  Corporation  at  reduced  rates ;  (3)  sell 
to  the  Corporation  at  £1  per  ton  all  the  scrap  from  the 
railway  shops  and  plants  in  the  Transvaal  and  in  a 
large  district  south  of  this  province,  and,  if  required, 
scrap  from  other  portions  of  the  railway  system  at  cor- 
respondingly low  prices  ;  and  (4)  purchase  from  the  Cor- 
poration such  iron  and  steel  goods  as  are  required  by  the 
railways  and  can  be  produced  at  the  Corporation's  works. 
The  grant  of  these  advantages  is  accompanied  by  the 
condition  that  the  Corporation,  after  its  third  year  of 
operations,  will  carry  out  certain  experiments  in  the 
smelting,  working,  and  treatment  of  the  native  iron  ores. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  importance  of  the  enterprise  lies  in 
the  fulfilment  of  this  condition  ;  since,  if  the  results  so 
obtained  are  successful,  South  Africa  will  begin  to 
supply  herself  from  her  own  deposits  with  the  bulk 
of  the  iron  and  steel  goods  that  she  requires  and 
now  imports. 

WHITE  LABOUR 

Apart  from  the  unsuccessful  attempts  to  utilise  white 
unskilled  labour  in  the  gold  industry  made  in  the  period 
1901-4,  such  labour  has  been  employed  from  time  to 
time  since  the  war  by  Government,  and  by  municipali- 
ties and  other  public  authorities.  The  regular  employ- 
ment of  white  unskilled  labour  by  the  State  is,  however, 
practically  confined  to  the  railway  service ;  and  an 
interesting  account  of  what  has  been  done  in  the  past, 

498 


WHITE    LABOUR    POLICY 

and  a  sympathetic  statement  of  the  policy  of  the  pre- 
sent Union  Government  on  this  difficult  and  important 
question,  are  to  be  found  in  the  pages  of  the  Railway 
Report :  l 

During  the  general  depression  in  the  year  1909  (the  General 
Manager  writes)  the  Cape  Government  provided  work  for  several 
hundred  white  men  of  the  labouring  class.  A  large  number  are 
still  retained  in  the  service  as  "  European  labourers,"  but  their 
employment  originally  was  intended  merely  to  alleviate  distress. 

In  the  Transvaal  and  Orange  Free  State  Provinces  what  is 
known  as  the  "  White  Labour  "  policy,  having  for  its  object  the 
employment  of  white  men  on  classes  of  work  previously  per- 
formed almost  exclusively  by  natives,  has  actually  been  in 
operation  for  some  years  past. 

As  far  back  as  1904  indigent  white  men  were  engaged  by  the 
Central  South  African  Railway  Administration  .  .  .  but  no 
decided  action  .  .  .  was  taken  until  1907,  when,  with  the  advent 
of  Responsible  Government  in  the  Transvaal,  the  Railway  Com- 
mittee approved  of  the  policy  of  employing  white  men,  in  lieu  of 
natives,  on  all  new  construction  works  and  also  on  maintenance 
work  at  stations  and  dep6ts  on  open  lines.  At  the  end  of 
December,  1910,  the  number  of  white  labourers  employed  in  the 
Transvaal  and  Orange  Free  State  was  1,775  on  open  lines  and 
1,391  on  construction  work.  .  .  .  The  Railway  Administration, 
therefore,  now  employs  over  3,000  white  men  on  work  previously 
performed  by  natives. 

.  .  .  On  economical  grounds  it  would,  therefore  [i.e.,  because 
of  the  largely  increased  cost  of  such  labour],  be  difficult  to  defend 
the  change  .  .  .  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  employment  of 
white  labour  has  one  result — apart  from  its  effect  on  the  gradual 
decrease  of  indigency — that  will  ultimately  affect  the  future 
working  of  the  railways,  and  that  is,  the  creation,  in  course  of 
time,  of  a  class  of  white  labourer  equal  to  the  European  unskilled 
labourer.  This  in  itself  justifies  the  policy  of  employing  white 
men,  which  should  gradually  be  extended  to  all  new  construction 
work,  to  all  maintenance  work  on  open  lines  throughout  the 
Union,  and  to  certain  other  kinds  of  labour.  With  the  pro- 
vision of  mechanical  appliances  for  handling  traffic  and  for  other 
services,  white  labour  can,  and  will  I  hope,  be  made  use  of. 

At  the  same  time,  the  General  Manager  reveals  in  his 
subsequent  remarks  that  the  application  of  the  white 
labour  policy  even  to  the  railway  system  has  proved  in 

1  Report  of  the  General  Manager  of  Railways  and  Harbours 
for  the  year  ended  December  31st,  1910.  Pretoria,  1911. 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

many  ways  unsatisfactory.  He  notices  with  disapproval 
the  tendency  among  the  white  labourers  "  to  agitate 
continuously  for  increased  pay  "  ;  and  recognises  that, 
at  most,  the  extended  use  of  such  labour  must  be 
"  gradual,"  and  that  it  will  for  long  remain  "  casual "  in 
character,  since  white  men  regard  such  work  as  merely 
"  a  temporary  relief  to  tide  them  over  "  until  they  can 
secure  some  permanent  and  more  congenial  employment. 
This  statement  of  the  intention  of  the  Union  Govern- 
ment to  foster  the  employment  of  white  unskilled  labour 
on  the  railways  has  been  followed  by  definite  pronounce- 
ments in  favour  of  a  white  labour  policy  on  the  part  of 
certain  Ministers,  and  by  the  passage  through  Parliament 
of  the  Land  Settlement  Act,  1912 — the  measure  in  which 
the  Government's  scheme  of  land  settlement  is  embodied. 
Among  these  utterances,  that  of  General  Smuts,  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  is  the  most  striking. 

THE  GOVERNMENT'S  SCHEME  OF  LAND  SETTLEMENT 
Speaking  at  Pretoria,  on  December  7th,  1911,  this  dis- 
tinguished   member    of    General    Botha's    ministry,    is 
reported  to  have  said : 

The  time  is  coming  when  we  shall  have  to  get  a  decent  class 
of  white  labour  into  the  country.  The  Government  ought  to 
establish  the  necessary  machinery  for  getting  the  labour  in  the 
first  place  here  in  South  Africa.  If  we  cannot  get  labour  here 
to  work  at  a  reasonable  living  wage,  then  we  can  get  it  from 
other  countries  where  it  is  plentiful.  Nobody  can  tell  me  that 
what  has  been  done  in  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Canada  is 
impossible  here  in  South  Africa. 1 

Earlier,  in  the  same  speech,  General  Smuts  advocated 
in  no  less  emphatic  language  the  active  promotion  by 
the  State  of  white  immigration : 

My  deliberate,  considered  opinion  (he  said)  is  that  a  good 
sound  policy  of  white  immigration  into  South  Africa  is  one  of 
the  finest  acts  of  statesmanship  which  can  be  achieved.  If  we 

1  The  Times,  December  9th,  1911.  Turned,  however,  from  the 
oratio  obliqua  of  The  Times  to  oratio  recta. 

500 


LAND   SETTLEMENT   ACT 

look  at  the  last  Census  l  we  cannot  get  away  from  the  fact  that, 
if  we  are  not  careful,  there  is  going  to  be  a  turn  of  the  tide  in 
South  Africa.  The  population  figures  in  South  Africa  for  the 
last  200  years  have  always  shown  an  increase  in  white  as  com- 
pared with  black.  The  last  figures  point  to  the  alarming  fact 
that  the  coloured  population  of  South  Africa  has  increased  in  a 
greater  proportion  than  the  white.  There  is  no  finer  country  in 
the  world,  and  no  finer  home  for  a  great  white  race.  If  we  wish 
to  maintain  and  strengthen  the  lead  we  have  at  present,  the 
people  of  South  Africa  will  have  to  turn  their  attention  deliber- 
ately to  this  great  issue  of  immigration.  We  do  not  want  the 
rifl-raff  of  Europe  here  and  the  scum  of  the  cities,  but  the  same 
sound  stock  that  has  founded  this  race  in  South  Africa.  We 
want  these  people  to  supply  new  energy  and  new  blood. 2 

The  main  outline  of  the  scheme  of  land  settlement, 
as  disclosed  in  subsequent  speeches  and  in  the  debates  in 
Parliament,  appear  to  be  these  :  A  sum  of  £5,000,000,  of 
which  £1,000,000  is  to  be  expended  annually  for  the  next 
five  years,  is  to  be  appropriated  under  the  terms  of  the 
Act  "  to  make  further  provision  for  the  allotment  for 
settlement  purposes  of  Crown  Land,  including  land  acquired 
for  such  purposes,  and  for  the  improvement  and  disposal 
of  such  land,  or  for  other  purposes  in  connection  there- 
with." In  moving  the  second  reading  of  the  Bill  in  the 
House  of  Assembly,  Mr.  Fischer,  the  Minister  of  Lands, 
declared  that  the  Government  recognised  the  need  of 
augmenting  the  supply  of  white  labour  both  from  within 
South  Africa  and  from  without.  Four  classes  of  settlers 
were  comprised  in  the  scheme.  First,  the  poor  white 
class — poor  South  Africans  without  capital — who  are  to 
be  settled  on  the  land  by  a  system  of  labour  colonies ; 
second,  suitable  immigrants  from  oversea  with  a  capital 
of  £200  to  £250,  who  are  to  be  provided  with  the  additional 
capital  necessary  for  stocking  their  farms, etc.,  by  advances 
from  the  Land  Banks  ;  third,  local  applicants  and  oversea 
immigrants  with  a  moderate  command  of  capital ;  and, 
fourth,  applicants  with  large  capital. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  value  of  a  measure  of  this  sort 

1  See  p.  388.  2  Ibid. 

501 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

depends  entirely  upon  the  manner  in  which  its  provisions 
are  administered. 

In  the  course  of  the  second  reading  of  the  Bill,  General 
Botha,  when  charged  with  being  opposed  to  immigration, 
replied  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  had  always  encouraged 
it.  But  if  General  Botha  was  correctly  reported,  the 
form  of  encouragement  which  he  proposed  to  adopt  was 
one  that  seems  scarcely  likely  to  secure  the  end  in  view. 
"  The  Government,"  he  said,  "  would  first  assist  the  poor 
whites  in  South  Africa,  and  when  they  had  assisted  these 
and  no  further  assistance  was  required,  and  they  had 
some  money  over,  then  they  could  see  about  immigra- 
tion." l  If  the  Land  Settlement  Act  is  to  be  administered 
in  the  spirit  of  this  remark — if,  that  is  to  say,  all  that  is 
to  be  offered  to  the  British  immigrant  is  the  land  and 
money  left  over  after  the  needs  of  the  "  poor  whites  "of 
the  Union  have  been  satisfied — some  other  instrument 
will  be  needed  to  give  effect  to  General  Smuts'  "  good, 
sound  policy  of  white  immigration  into  South  Africa." 

It  must  be  noticed,  however,  that  before  the  Bill  came 
to  its  third  reading  a  slight  concession  was  made  in  favour 
of  possible  British  applicants  for  land.  In  Select 
Committee,  a  clause  enabling  the  Minister  of  Lands  to 
receive  such  applications  through  the  High  Commis- 
sioner's Office  in  London,  if  he  so  desired,  was  moved  by 
Mr.  Fischer  himself ;  and  this  clause,  after  some  debate 
in  which  it  was  at  first  opposed  by  the  Government 
and  strongly  advocated  by  the  Opposition,  was  ultimately 
inserted  in  the  Act. 

1  Renter  telegram  in  The  Times  of  February  13th,  1912. 


502 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOCIAL  AND   INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT 

SCIENCE,  Literature,  and  Art  enter  into  the  life  of  the 
educated  South  African,  whether  of  British  or  Dutch 
descent,  even  as  they  do  into  the  lives  of  their  kinsmen 
in  Europe.  In  some  respects,  South  Africa — that  is,  of 
course,  European  South  Africa — is  at  an  advantage  as 
compared  with  the  other  oversea  dominions.  The 
country  and  its  aboriginal  inhabitants  present  a  wide 
and  stimulating  field  of  ethnological  and  archaeological 
research  ;  the  clash  of  conflicting  racial  ideals  has  stirred 
her  adopted  sons  early  to  literary  expression,  and  the 
development  of  her  domestic  architecture,  at  all  events, 
has  been  guided  by  a  tradition  derived  from  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  century  models  of  her  own. 

Prior  to  the  Union,  a  varying  measure  of  recognition 
and  financial  aid  was  given  to  religious  bodies  by  the 
several  Colonial  governments,  and  some  assistance  out 
of  public  funds  was  rendered  to  scientific  associations, 
libraries,  museums,  and  art  galleries.  In  South  Africa, 
as  in  the  other  dominions,  public  opinion  sets  in  the 
direction  of  making  religious  organisations  entirely 
independent  of  the  State  ;  but,  with  this  exception,  it 
may  be  expected  that  under  the  Union  the  encourage- 
ment extended  by  the  State  to  agencies  and  institutions 
calculated  to  promote  the  higher  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  community  will  be  both  more  ample  and 
more  effective. 

RELIGION 

The  towns  and  villages  of  the  Union  are  well  supplied 
with  places  of  worship,  varying  in  character  from  the 

503 

33— (2139) 


THE  UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


Gothic  cathedrals  *  at  the  seats  of  the  Anglican  bishoprics 
to  the  primitive  "  Dopper  "  church  of  the  Back-veld. 
The  Dutch,  naturally,  are  members  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  and  the  Z.A.  Gereformeerde  Kirk, 
and  the  membership  of  these  two  bodies  constitutes  a 
majority  of  the  European  Christian  community.  A  large 
and  influential  element  of  the  British  population  belong 
to  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  and  the  various  Nonconformist  communions  each 
possess  an  appreciable  number  of  European  members, 
although  their  main  numerical  strength  lies  in  their 
coloured  and  native  adherents. 

The  two  following  tables,  which  have  reference  to  the 
Cape  Province,  will  serve  to  indicate  the  relative 
membership  of  the  principal  religious  bodies  in  South 
Africa. 

PRINCIPAL  RELIGIONS  IN  THE  CAPE  PROVINCE,  according 
to  the  Census  of  April,  1904  : 

[Total  population,  2,409,804  ;   European  population, 
579,741.] 


All  races. 

White. 

Congregationalist  .  . 

. 

112,202 

4,986 

Dutch  Reformed  Church 

, 

399,487 

296,792 

Methodist,  Wesleyan 

. 

277,285 

35,860 

Presbyterian 

88,653 

26,357 

Church  of  England 

. 

281,433 

126,552 

Roman  Catholic 

. 

37,069 

28,480 

Greek  Church 

, 

1,049 

1,028 

Jews 

. 

19,537 

19,509 

Mohammedans 

. 

22,623 

48 

Buddhist     .  . 

. 

489 

3 

Hindu 

. 

2,033 

11 

Confucian,  or  Church  of  China 

773 



No  Religion  (so  stated)     .  . 

1,015,760 

532 

[From  the    Statistical  Register  of  the  Cape  Province,  1910.] 
1  Most  of  these  buildings  are  unfinished. 

504 


RELIGIOUS    DENOMINATIONS 


Altogether,  some  thirty  distinct  religions  and  sects  are 
recorded. 

Number  of  ministers,  etc.,  of  the  principal  religious 
denominations  in  operation,  in  1907,  in  the  Cape  Province  : 


No.  of 
Ministers. 

Ministers' 
Stipends 
and  Fees. 

Contribu- 
tions ex- 
clusive of 
support  of 
Ministers. 

Average 
Attend- 
ance at 
principal 
Sunday 
Service. 

Baptist 
Congregational 
Dutch  Reformed  Ch.  .  . 
Church  of  England    .  . 
Methodist,  Wesleyan  . 

Presbyterian 
Roman  Catholic 

Total  for  all  twenty- 
two  denominations 

15 
30 
116 
153 
195 

34 
55 

2,977 
6,493 
34,971 
30,915 
No  infor- 
mation. 
7,077 
3,007 

2,798 
3,372 
57,575 
25,813 
No  infor- 
mation. 
5,219 
769 

2,612 
12,288 
37,254 
31,014 
121,055 

11,080 
5,823 

708 

101,321 

112,301 

247,610 

[From  the  same.] 

In  the  Estimates  for  1911-12  certain  grants  to  religious 
bodies  made  by  the  Union  Government  are  included  in 
the  Vote  for  the  Ministry  of  Finance.  Under  the  sub- 
head "  Allowances  to  Chaplains  (Cape  of  Good  Hope)," 
the  sum  of  £1,928  is  appropriated  ;  and  grants  to  various 
churches  in  the  Free  State  amount  to  £7,961,  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  receiving  £5,928  of  this  latter  sum. 
With  reference  to  the  first  of  these  items,  it  may  be 
explained  that  during  the  first  half  century  of  British 
occupation  the  Cape  Government  made  regular  grants 
in  support  of  the  ministers  of  the  various  denominations  ; 
and  in  1853,  when  representative  institutions  were  intro- 
duced, the  annual  sum  provided  on  this  account  amounted 
to  £16,060.  The  Constitution  Ordinance  of  that  year 
required  that  an  amount  not  less  than  this  sum  should  be 

505 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

appropriated  out  of  revenue  annually  to  the  service  of 
"  Religious  Worship."  In  1875,  however,  after  the 
establishment  of  Responsible  Government,  the  "  Volun- 
tary Principle  "  was  adopted  by  the  Cape  Parliament, 
and  an  Act  was  passed  providing  for  the  gradual  extinc- 
tion of  the  grants.  As  the  stipends  of  existing  incum- 
bents, and  of  such  of  their  successors  as  were  appointed 
within  five  years  of  the  taking  effect  of  the  Act,  were 
secured  to  them  until  death  or  resignation,  the  process 
has  been  lengthy ;  and  the  vote,  although  reduced  to 
the  figure  shown  above,  still  appears  upon  the  annual 
estimates. 

The  most  striking  and  characteristic  effort  of  the 
churches  in  South  Africa  is,  of  course,  the  instruction  of 
the  native  races  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
Although  some  serious  indiscretions  were  committed  by 
individual  missionaries,  and  by  missionary  organisations, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity,  taken  as  a  whole,  has  not  only 
advanced  the  moral  and  material  condition  of  the  natives, 
but  has  increased  appreciably  their  economic  value  to 
the  European  community.  In  particular,  as  we  have 
had  occasion  to  notice  elsewhere, *  practically  the  whole 
of  the  work  of  native  education,  as  at  present  conducted, 
has  been  relegated  to  the  various  missionary  organisa- 
tions by  the  Union  and  other  South  African  Governments. 

MUSEUMS  AND  LIBRARIES 

The  advancement  of  science,  literature,  and  art,  no 
less  than  that  of  religion,  has  been  promoted,  in  the 
main,  by  private  enterprise.  The  collection  of  MSS. 
and  rare  books  presented  by  Sir  George  Grey  is  a  chief 
possession  of  the  South  African  library  at  Capetown, 
and  the  public  library  at  Johannesburg  has  been  enriched 
similarly  by  the  gift  of  the  Seymour  Memorial  Library. 

1  "  Education,"  Part  V,  Chap.  IV,  p.  477. 

506 


SCIENTIFIC   INSTITUTIONS 

The  Chartered  Company  and  Rhodes  provided  funds  for 
the  scientific  investigation  of  the  Semitic  remains  in 
Mashonaland  and  Matabeleland  ;  and  Rhodes  himself, 
besides  being  responsible  directly  or  indirectly  for  the 
two  or  three  monuments  of  real  merit  which  the  country 
at  present  possesses,  exercised  a  powerful  and  salutary 
influence  upon  the  recent  development  of  architecture  in 
South  Africa.  The  Johannesburg  Art  Gallery,  the  one 
public  collection  of  paintings  of  artistic  value,  has  been 
brought  into  existence  by  the  efforts  of  Lady  Lionel 
Phillips.  These  instances  by  no  means  exhaust  the  list 
of  private  benefactors  of  this  class,  and  take  no  account 
of  the  many  generous  gifts  devoted  to  *  educational 
purposes. 

A  general  idea  of  the  chief  scientific  and  literary 
institutions  of  the  Union,  and  of  the  degree  in  which  they 
are  assisted  by  the  State,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
estimates  for  1911-12.  Among  various  miscellaneous 
provisions  included  in  the  Education  vote  is  the  grant- 
in-aid  of  £250  to  the  Royal  Society  of  South  Africa. 
Under  sub-heads  Q  and  Z  of  the  vote  for  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  we  find  provision  is  made  for  grants-in-aid 
to  museums,  libraries  and  reading-rooms,  art  galleries, 
and  art  associations  and  herbariums.  The  museums 
include  those  of  Capetown  (the  South  African  Museum), 
Grahamstown,  Kimberley,  King  William's  Town,  Port 
Elizabeth,  Maritzburg,  Durban,  and  Bloemfontein  ;  and 
the  grants  which  they  receive  amount  collectively  to 
£9,170.  The  total  sum  granted  to  public  libraries  and 
reading-rooms  is  £15,400,  and  the  chief  recipients  are  the 
South  African  Library  at  Capetown  (£1,050),  and  the  libra- 
ries at  Pretoria  and  Johannesburg  (each  £1,300).  In  the 
Cape  Province  the  library  grants  run  from  £15  to  £150, 
and  in  the  Transvaal  from  £25  to  £100 ;  and  in  both  of 
these  provinces  the  public  libraries  are  fairly  numerous. 
In  this  connection  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 

507 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 


Union  Government  is  spending  £90,000  on  building  the 
new  Museum  and  Government  Library  at  Pretoria. 

The  grants  to  art  institutions  amount  collectively  to 
£1,070.  The  South  African  Fine  Arts  Association,  and 
Gallery,  at  Capetown,  receive  respectively  £100  and  £500  ; 
the  Grahamstown  Fine  Arts  Association,  £100 ;  the 
Durban  Art  GaUery,  £135  ;  the  Maritzburg  Art  Gallery, 
£135  ;  and  the  Arts  and  Crafts  Association,  £100.  Here, 
again,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  both  the  (late) 
Transvaal  Government  and  the  Municipality  of  Johan- 
nesburg have  given,  and  are  giving,  generous  assistance  to 
the  Johannesburg  Art  Gallery,  both  in  respect  of  the 
actual  building  and  the  subsequent  maintenance  of  the 
institution. 

The  following  return,  which  is  taken  from  the  Statistical 
Abstract  of  the  Cape  Province,  will  indicate  the  character 
of  the  public  libraries  in  South  Africa,  and  the  degree  in 
which  they  are  utilised  by  the  people. 

Position  of  the  157  public  libraries  in  the  Cape  Province 
at  December  31st,  1909 : 


No.  of 

Volumes 
added 
in  1909. 

Volumes 
(excluding 
Periodicals) 
now  on 
shelves. 

Average 
Monthly 
Circulation. 

Subscribers. 

Average 
Visitors 
per  diem. 

30,492 

610,676 

57,160 

10,151 

4,360 

GAMES  AND  SPORTS 

What  Horace  said  of  the  Roman  emigrant  of  his  day  : 
Ccelum  non  animum  mutant,  qui  trans  marc  currunt — 
our  colonists  change  their  temperature,  but  not  their 
temperament — may  be  applied  with  equal  truth  to  the 
oversea  British.  In  South  Africa,  as  in  the  other 
dominions,  the  new  arrival  from  the  Homeland  will  find 

508 


LITERATURE 

the  social  distinctions  and  pursuits  with  which  he  is 
familiar  ;  and  in  the  matter  of  outdoor  games  and  sports 
he  will  gain  probably  more  than  he  has  lost.1  There 
will  be  some  changes,  of  course,  arising  out  of  the  changed 
conditions — climatic  and  general — of  the  new  land. 
Little  or  no  riding  to  hounds  is  to  be  enjoyed,  and  the 
shooting  is  of  an  entirely  different  order.  He  will  bowl 
down  a  cricket  pitch  of  matting,  and  discover  greens  on 
the  golf  courses  formed  of  fine  sand  instead  of  grass. 
But  notwithstanding  such  shortcomings,  he  will  find  that 
cricket,  football,  lawn-tennis,  golf,  shooting,  fishing, 
riding,  bicycling,  motoring,  yachting,  and  horse-racing 
can  be  pursued  with  the  same  keen  enjoyment  as  in 
England.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  under  the  new 
Union  Defence  Act  the  Englishman  in  South  Africa  will 
have  excellent  opportunities  of  learning  the  use  of  the 
rifle,  and  of  becoming  reasonably  efficient  in  the  duties 
of  a  citizen-soldier. 

LITERATURE 

Apart  from  the  historical  and  scientific  works  among 
which  the  many  volumes  of  Mr.  George  McCall  Theal's 
History  stand  pre-eminent,  European  South  Africa  can 
show  an  output  in  creative  literature  and  belles  lettres 
which,  alike  in  quality  and  quantity,  is  remarkable  for 
so  young  a  country.  Thomas  Pringle's  poetry,  from 
which  couplets  and  stanzas  have  been  quoted  in  an  early 
chapter,2  has  little  genuine  poetic  quality,  but  its 
descriptive  power  gives  it  a  certain  value  and  interest. 
And  although  "  Afar  in  the  Desert  "  and  his  other  South 
African  poems  have  failed  to  retain  the  favour  with  which 
they  were  received  by  his  contemporaries,  Pringle  none 
the  less  has  performed  an  appreciable  service  to  South 

1  An  exception  must  be  made  in  the  case  of  the  purely  Dutch 
country  districts. 

*  Part  I,  Chap.  II,  p.  20  et  seq. 

509 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

African  letters  by  showing  at  the  outset  that  the  conflict 
of  European  civilisation  with  the  primitive  manners  and 
emotions  of  the  native  African  races  was  a  subject  rich 
in  poetic  motives.  To  him,  therefore,  is  due  in  large 
measure  the  fact  that  to-day  there  exists  in  South  Africa 
a  group  of  Civil  servants  and  Native  Commissioners 
capable  of  writing  verse  of  no  inconsiderable  interest  and 
promise.  But  our  attention  is  diverted  from  both  the 
work  of  this  group  and  from  the  many  examples  of 
South  African  prose-fiction  of  lesser  but  still  considerable 
merit  by  two  arresting  works  of  creative  literature — 
The  Story  of  an  African  Farm  and  Jock  of  the  Bushveld. 
The  former  of  these,  written  now  some  thirty  years  ago, 
has  made  the  name  of  "  Olive  Schreiner  "  (Mrs.  Cronwright 
Schreiner)  familiar  throughout  the  English-speaking 
world  ;  the  latter  has  added  a  fresh  distinction  to  the 
otherwise  notable  career  of  Sir  Percy  Fitzpatrick. 

The  presentation  of  the  gospel  of  the  emancipation  of 
women,  which  first  won  for  The  Story  of  an  African  Farm 
the  attention  of  the  reading  public,  has  lost  its  novelty 
to-day,  but  the  literary  quality  of  this  first  work  of  "  Olive 
Schreiner  " — a  careful,  almost  photographic,  exactness  of 
representation,  which  recalls  an  interior  of  the  Dutch 
School  of  painting — remains  unaffected  by  the  lapse  of 
time.  The  book  is,  as  every  one  knows,  a  picture  of  life 
in  a  Dutch  homestead  in  the  old  colony,  in  which  the 
salient  features  of  Dutch  Afrikander  thought  and 
character,  and  the  typical  moods  of  nature  in  the  Karoo, 
are  faithfully  reproduced.  At  the  time  when  it  was 
written,  Miss  Olive  Schreiner,  the  daughter  of  a  Lutheran 
minister  at  Capetown,  was  exceedingly  young,  and  she 
was  actually  living  amid  the  surroundings  which  she  has 
depicted.  A  perusal  of  this  book,  therefore,  affords  the 
reader  a  useful  insight  into  the  thought  and  manners  of 
the  rural  Dutch  Afrikanders.  And  in  illustration  of  this 
aspect  of  "  Olive  Schreiner 's  "  work,  I  may,  perhaps,  be 

510 


STORY    OF   AN    AFRICAN    FARM 

allowed  to  recall  some  passages  to  which  I  drew  attention 
in  an  earlier  book. 1 

"  To  begin,  let  us  observe  how  Nature  is  drawn  in  its 
most  characteristic  aspect  in  South  Africa. 

"  First  the  long  period  of  drought : 

From  end  to  end  of  the  land  the  earth  cried  for  water.  Man 
and  beast  turned  their  eyes  to  the  pitiless  sky,  that,  like  the  roof 
of  some  brazen  oven,  arched  overhead.  On  the  farm,  day  after 
day,  month  after  month,  the  water  in  the  dams  fell  lower  and 
lower  ;  the  sheep  died  in  the  fields  ;  the  cattle,  scarcely  able  to 
crawl,  tottered  as  they  moved  from  spot  to  spot  in  search  of 
food.  Week  after  week,  month  after  month,  the  sun  looked 
down  from  the  cloudless  sky,  till  the  Karoo  bushes  were  leafless 
sticks,  broken  into  the  earth,  and  the  earth  itself  was  naked  and 
bare  ;  and  only  the  milk  bushes,  like  old  hags,  pointed  their 
shrivelled  fingers  heavenwards,  praying  for  the  rain  that  never 
came. 

"  Then  the  torrential  rain  : 

Outside  the  rain  poured  ;  a  six  months'  drought  had  broken, 
and  the  thirsty  plain  was  drenched  with  water.  What  it  could 
not  swallow  ran  off  in  mad  rivulets  to  the  great  "  sloot  "  that 
now  foamed  like  an  angry  river  across  the  flat.  Even  the  little 
furrow  between  the  farmhouse  and  the  kraals  was  now  a  stream, 
knee-deep,  which  almost  bore  away  the  Kafir  woman  who  crossed 
it.  ...  The  fowls  had  collected,  a  melancholy  crowd,  in  and 
about  the  wagon-house,  and  the  solitary  gander  who  alone  had 
survived  the  six  months'  want  of  water,  walked  hither  and 
thither,  printing  his  webbed  foot-marks  on  the  mud,  to  have 
them  washed  out  the  next  moment  by  the  pelting  rain. 

"  And,  afterwards,  the  '  princely  day  *  which  follows 
the  breaking  of  the  drought : 

The  long  morning  had  melted  slowly  into  a  rich  afternoon. 
Rains  had  covered  the  Karoo  with  a  heavy  coat  of  green  that 
hid  the  red  earth  everywhere.  In  the  very  chinks  of  the  stone 
walls  dark  green  leaves  hung  out,  and  beauty  and  growth  had 
crept  even  into  the  beds  of  the  sandy  furrows  and  lined  them 
with  weeds. 

"  Then  there  is  the  farmhouse  on  the  Karoo  and  its 
inhabitants.  In  spite  of  the  strangeness  of  the  sur- 
roundings, how  familiar  the  author  has  made  it  all ; 

1  In  South  Africa  :  A  Study  in  Colonial  Administration  and 
Development,  1895. 

511 


THE   UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

and  how  well  we  seem  to  know  the  chief  personages  of 
the  story.  Tant'  Sannie,  the  Boer  woman,  with  her 
grossness  of  person  and  language  ;  Em  and  Lyndall,  the 
two  little  English  girls,  whose  dead  father  married  Tant' 
Sannie  to  provide  them  with  a  protector  ;  the  kindly  old 
German  overseer  and  his  son  Waldo  ;  the  vagabond 
Englishman  who  supplants  him  ;  Greg,  who  takes  half 
the  farm  off  Em's  hands  when  she  has  grown  up  ;  even 
the  Hottentot  maids  and  the  Kafirs,  the  Boer  visitors, 
and  the  strangers  who  come  and  go — all  assume  reality 
under  the  deft  portraiture  of  "  Olive  Schreiner." 

"  Tant'  Sannie  does  not  occupy  much  space  upon  the 
canvas,  but  the  figure  is  distinct  and  vigorous.  As  she 
sits  in  her  elbow  chair,  sipping  her  coffee,  with  her  feet 
comfortably  resting  upon  the  wooden  stove,  and  her 
Hottentot  maid  in  attendance,  she  seems  to  personify 
the  Africander  Dutch  in  every  inch  of  her  huge  frame. 
Apart  from  her  external  appearance,  she  displays  the 
typical  mental  attitude  in  its  two  characteristic  traits — 
she  is  superstitious  and  averse  to  change.  For  this  gross 
creature,  in  spite  of  her  violent  language  and  material 
philosophy,  '  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  chinks  in  the 
world  above,  where  not  only  ears,  but  eyes,  might  be 
applied  to  see  how  things  went  on  in  this  world  below. 
She  never  felt  sure  how  far  the  spirit  world  might  over- 
lap this  world  of  sense,  and,  as  a  rule,  prudently  abstained 
from  doing  anything  which  might  offend  unseen  auditors.' 

"  Equally  characteristic  is  her  reproval  of  Em  for  using 
soda,  instead  of  milk-bushes,  to  make  soap. 

Not  that  I  believe  in  this  new  plan  of  putting  soda  in  the  pot. 
If  the  dear  Father  had  meant  soda  to  be  put  into  soap,  what 
would  he  have  made  milk-bushes  for,  and  stuck  them  all  over  the 
veld  as  thick  as  lambs  in  the  lambing  season  ? 

"And  again — 

My  mother  boiled  soap  with  bushes,  and  I  will  boil  soap  with 
bushes.  If  the  wrath  of  God  is  to  fall  upon  this  land  (said  Tant' 
Sannie,  with  the  serenity  of  conscious  virtue),  it  shall  not  be 

512 


JOCK   OF   THE    BUSHVELD 

through  me.  Let  them  make  their  steam-wagons  and  their 
fire-carriages  ;  let  them  go  on  as  though  the  dear  Lord  didn't 
know  what  He  was  about  when  He  gave  horses  and  oxen  legs 
— the  destruction  of  the  Lord  will  follow  them.  I  don't  know 
how  such  people  read  their  Bibles.  When  do  we  hear  of  Moses 
and  Noah  riding  in  a  railway  ?  " 

As  a  study  of  South  African  life,  Sir  Percy  Fitzpatrick's 
work,  alike  in  its  scenery  and  characters,  provides  an 
excellent  counterpart  to  that  of  "  Olive  Schreiner."  It 
is  a  story  of  trekking  and  hunting,  and  transport  riding 
in  the  days  of  gold  discovery  in  the  early  eighties  ;  and 
the  scene  is  laid  not  in  the  flat  and  arid  Karoo,  but  in 
the  well- watered  valleys  and  mountains  of  the  north-east 
Transvaal  and  seawards  beyond  the  great  ranges. 

Apart  from  Jock,  the  central  figure  of  the  canvas,  and 
the  wild  life  of  the  Bushveld  and  the  Berg,  there  is  excel- 
lent character  drawing  ;  but  the  white  men  are  English, 
not  Dutch,  and  the  natives  are  natives  as  developed  under 
English,  not  Dutch,  influence.  In  Jim  Makokel,  who 
"  catch  'em  lion  '  live,'  "  ;  in  Sam  (Sam  no  good  ;  Sam 
leader  Bible)  ;  and  in  the  rest  we  have  a  vivid  and 
truthful  presentation  of  the  working  of  the  native  mind. 
Among  the  white  men,  "  old  Charlie  Roberts,"  the  driver, 
"  a  really  first-class  man  "  with  the  transport  oxen  ;  and 
"  Rocky  the  Hunter,"  "  who  had  the  knack  of  getting 
at  the  heart  of  things,  and  putting  it  all  into  the  fewest 
words,"  leave,  perhaps,  the  clearest  images  in  the  mind. 
And  it  is  in  respect  of  "  old  Charlie's  "  calling  that  Sir 
Percy  writes  some  wise  words,  which  state  with  simple 
directness  the  truth  that  physical  as  well  as  moral 
superiority  is  needed  to  make  the  relationship  of  the 
whites  and  blacks  in  South  Africa  of  mutual  benefit. 

Patience,  understanding,  judgment,  and  decision  :  these  are 
the  qualities  it  calls  for,  and  here,  again,  the  white  man  justifies 
his  claim  to  lead  and  rule  ;  for,  although  they  are  as  ten  or 
twenty  to  one,  there  is  not  a  native  driver  who  can  compare 
with  the  best  of  the  white  men. 

513 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Almost  as  intimate  a  knowledge  is  shown  of  the  animals, 
wild  and  tame.  Jock,  the  hunting  dog,  must  be  seen  as 
he  lives  and  moves  in  the  pages  of  the  book  ;  but  lesser 
types  may  be  recalled.  Among  these  are  "  the  old 
Rooster  whose  name  was  Pezulu,"  and  Snowball,  the 
hunting  horse,  who  was  "  no  fool/'  and  "  had  no 
unpractical  prejudices  :  he  objected  to  work — that  was 
all."  Old  Zwaartland,  too,  the  front  ox,  who  "  with  his 
steady,  sober  air,  perfect  understanding  of  his  work,  and 
firm,  clean,  buck-like  tread,"  still  led  the  front  span  in 
the  hour  of  dire  extremity ;  and  Zole,  "  the  little,  fat 
schoolboy,  always  out  of  breath,  always  good-tempered 
and  quiet,  as  tame  as  a  pet  dog,"  are  figures  that  linger 
in  the  memory.  Nor  must  even  this  glimpse  between 
the  covers  of  Sir  Percy's  book  fail  to  mark  the  close 
observation  of  wild  animals  and  their  ways,  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  hunter's  craft,  that  will  delight  and 
instruct  the  sportsman  in  equal  measure. 

ARCHITECTURE 

On  more  than  one  occasion  the  reader  has  been 
reminded  that  the  Cape  Peninsula,  Stellenbosch,  Fransch- 
hoek,  and  the  Paarl — the  districts  in  which  the  first 
genuine  Dutch  and  French  settlers  made  their  homes — 
can  show  many  modest  but  pleasing  examples  of  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  century  buildings.  The  "  Castle," 
on  the  shores  of  Table  Bay,  which  replaced  the  original 
fort  constructed  by  Van  Riebeck,  was  planned  by  no 
less  a  person  than  Vauban,  the  famous  military  engineer. 
Its  most  noticeable  architectural  features  are  the  entrance 
gateway,  from  which  rises  an  octagonal  clock-tower  sur- 
mounted by  a  low  cupola,  and  the  portico  in  the  court- 
yard which  leads  to  what  was  once  the  residence  of  the 
Dutch  Governor  of  the  colony.  This  latter,  with  its 
serpentine  balustrade  and  base  united  by  graceful  columns, 
is,  perhaps,  the  best  single  "  piece  "  to  be  found  among 

514 


THE   AFRIKANDER   HOUSE 

the  architectural  designs  of  this  class  in  the  Cape  Pro- 
vince. Apart  from  the  "  Castle,"  the  only  noteworthy 
public  buildings  of  the  period  are  the  Stadthaus  and  the 
tower  of  the  Dutch  Church,  both  of  which  are  of  con- 
siderable interest.  On  the  other  hand,  the  older  streets 
of  Capetown  hold  numerous  eighteenth  century  private 
houses,  whose  fronts  are  decorated  with  pilasters  and 
pediments,  and  furnished  with  stoeps,  heavy  window 
frames,  enriched  doorways,  and  other  characteristic 
features. * 

THE  AFRIKANDER  HOUSE 

It  is,  however,  in  the  homesteads  of  the  Cape  Peninsula 
and  the  near  mainland  that  interest  centres,  since  these 
houses  display  certain  departures  from  their  contemporary 
Dutch  and  Flemish  models — departures  the  joint  product 
of  Eastern  influences  and  local  conditions — which  entitle 
them  to  be  regarded  as  constituting  collectively  a  separate 
architectural  type,  analogous  to  that  to  which  in  the 
United  States  the  term  "  Colonial "  is  applied.  Notable 
examples  of  such  Afrikander  houses  in  the  Cape  Peninsula 
are  afforded  by  Tokay  (now  occupied  by  the  Woods  and 
Forestry  Department),  Groot  Constantia  (now  the 
Government  Wine  Farm),  Alphen,  and  (the  reproduced) 
Groote  Schuur.  The  features  which  differentiate  the 
Afrikander  house  are  the  wide,  central  passage,  or  hall, 
running  from  front  to  back,  and  the  Stoep,  or  raised 
platform  of  brick,  upon  which  this  passage  opens  at 
either  end.  The  purpose  of  both  these  features  is  to 
enable  the  household  to  secure  fresh  air  and  coolness 
during  the  eight  out  of  the  twelve  months  of  the  year,  in 
which  the  sun  shines  almost  continuously.  They  were 
introduced,  no  doubt,  from  Batavia,  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  where  the  need  for  air 

1  One  of  the  best  examples  of  the  Afrikander  townhouse  is 
the  residence  of  the  late  Mde.  Coepmans  de  Wet  in  Strand  St. 

515 


THE  UNION   OF  SOUTH   AFRICA 

and  coolness  was  much  greater,  and  where  they  remain 
all-important  elements  in  the  homes  of  the  Dutch  and 
English  residents  of  to-day.  From  the  central  hall, 
which  in  the  Afrikander  house  is  commonly  divided  mid- 
way by  a  wooden  screen  for  domestic  convenience,  there 
open  the  doors  which  give  access  to  the  living  rooms 
thrown  out  on  either  side  ;  and  thus  by  opening  the 
entrance  doors  at  either  end  of  the  hall  a  current  of  air 
is  obtained  which  can  be  circulated  easily  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  house.  The  stoeps  run  the  entire  length  of 
the  eastern  and  western  fronts,  and  here  the  members  of 
the  household  can  sit  at  ease  in  the  open  air,  choosing 
the  eastern  or  western  stoep  according  to  the  position  of 
the  sun.  The  Afrikander  stoep,  however,  differs  in  one 
respect  from  the  Batavian  portico.  With  the  exception 
of  the  occasional  instances  in  which  it  bears  a  screen  of 
vines  or  creepers  carried  upon  columns,  such  as  may  be 
seen  at  Tokay,  it  is  left  entirely  open  and  uncovered, 
with  nothing  more  than  a  low  parapet  and  possibly  seats 
of  stuccoed  brick  at  either  end. 

Apart  from  these  differentiating  features,  the  Afri- 
kander house  is  frankly  Dutch  or  Flemish,  with  here  and 
there  a  wealth  of  plaster  enrichment  to  be  traced  probably 
to  the  Huguenot  influence.  It  is  usually  one-storeyed, 
and  the  low  walls,  built  solidly  of  brick  by  slave  labour, 
are  plastered  and  whitewashed,  so  that  their  gleaming 
surfaces  contrast  sharply  with  the  coal  black  thatch  of 
the  roofs.  The  gables  show  the  characteristic  Flemish 
curves,  and  in  the  Huguenot  districts  especially  are 
frequently  decorated  with  scrolls,  geometrical  patterns, 
rosettes,  and  other  forms  of  plaster  work.  The  windows 
are  fitted  with  sashes,  and  show  the  thick  bars  and 
massive  frames  that  dignify  the  windows  of  the  English 
house  of  the  late  Stuart  period ;  and  the  doors,  with 
their  fanlights  above,  are  set  between  pilasters  and  sur- 
mounted by  an  entablature  or  hood,  variously  enriched. 

516 


PUBLIC    MONUMENTS 

The  courtyards  formed  at  the  back  and  front  of  the 
house  by  servants'  quarters,  stables,  granaries,  wine 
presses  and  stores,  and  the  like  outbuildings,  are  shaded 
by  trees,  and  the  whole  group  of  buildings  is  approached 
by  wide  avenues  of  oaks. 

SOUTH  AFRICAN  DOMESTIC  ARCHITECTURE 

The  originating  impulse  which  has  led  to  the  growth 
of  a  style  of  domestic  architecture  in  South  Africa,  based 
upon  the  Afrikander  homestead,  was  given  by  Rhodes. 
In  the  first  place,  he  acquired  for  his  own  home  a  typical 
house  of  this  class  in  Groote  Schuur,  then  the  residence 
of  a  Dutch  lady,  and  known  as  "  The  Grange,"  Rondes- 
bosch.  In  the  almost  complete  destruction  of  Groote 
Schuur  by  fire,  and  its  subsequent  restoration,  Rhodes 
found  the  opportunity  of  securing  for  South  Africa  the 
services  of  Mr.  Herbert  Baker,  the  gifted  architect,  who 
in  recent  years  has  developed  out  of  the  Afrikander 
model  a  style  of  domestic  architecture  not  unworthy  of 
adoption  by  the  new  nation. 

In  addition  to  the  reconstructed  Groote  Schuur,  Bed- 
ford Farm,  Sir  George  Farrar's  country  house,  near 
Johannesburg,  and  Government  House,  near  Pretoria, 
the  official  residence  of  the  Governor-General  of  the 
Union,  may  be  mentioned  as  recent  and  notable  examples 
of  Mr.  Baker's  work.  There  are,  however,  many  "  Baker  " 
houses,  large  and  small,  to  be  found  in  the  Transvaal 
and  elsewhere. 

THE  RHODES  MEMORIAL 

The  Union  Buildings,  which,  like  the  Rhodes'  Memorial, 
have  been  designed  by  Mr.  Baker,  have  been  described 
elsewhere.  It  only  remains,  therefore,  to  remind  the 
reader  that,  when  they  are  completed,  Pretoria  will  be 

517 


THE   UNION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA 

possessed  of  an  architectural  work  of  a  magnitude  and 
dignity  hitherto  unattempted  in  South  Africa. 

The  three  public  monuments  of  recognised  merit  which 
South  Africa  possesses  to-day  are  the  Alan  Wilson 
Memorial  on  the  Matopos,  the  Kimberley  Siege  Memorial, 
and  the  Rhodes  Memorial  on  Table  Mountain.  Some 
reference  has  been  made  to  each  of  these  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  but  a  few  words  of  more  precise  description 
may  be  added  here  in  respect  of  this  last  work — the  latest 
and  most  considerable  of  the  three. 

The  Rhodes  Memorial,  designed  by  Mr.  Baker,  is  placed 
on  the  slope  of  Table  Mountain  above  the  teak  bench, 
which  was  Rhodes'  favourite  seat  in  the  grounds  of 
Groote  Schuur.  The  site  commands  a  threefold  outlook 
— in  front,  the  green  and  silver  isthmus,  with  the  vast, 
dim  mainland  of  Africa  beyond  ;  on  the  left,  the  circle 
of  Table  Bay  and  the  Atlantic  ;  on  the  right,  the  wooded 
spurs  and  foothills  of  the  Table  Range,  False  Bay,  and 
the  Pacific.  The  value  of  this  wide  outlook  was  recog- 
nised by  the  first  Dutch  settlers,  and  they  kept  a  look- 
out post,  which  survives1  in  the  block-house  on  the 
Devil's  Peak,  at  a  higher  point  of  this  same  angle  of  the 
mountain,  to  warn  them  of  the  approach  of  raiding 
Hottentots  or  of  other  unwelcome  visitors  arriving  by 
land  or  sea.  There,  fashioned  like  its  mountain  home  of 
granite,  a  winged  colonnade,  built  in  the  Doric  manner 
of  Sicily,  is  set  high  above  four  flights  of  wide  steps, 
which  fall  to  a  massive  rounded  bastion  at  their  base. 
At  the  end  of  each  plinth  is  a  recumbent  lion  in  bronze  ; 
and  the  approach  to  the  central  member  of  the  colonnade 
is  thus  guarded  by  eight  lions — four  on  either  side.  The 
downward  sweep  of  the  lowest  flight  of  steps  is  broken 
by  a  boldly  projecting  mass  of  granite,  from  which  leap 
out  the  eager  forms — man  and  horse — of  Watts'  "  Physical 
Energy."  Within  the  colonnade  stands  a  sculptured 

1  Unless  it  has  been  removed  in  recent  years. 

518 


THE  RHODES  MEMORIAL 

head  emblematic  of  the  Spirit  of  Table  Mountain,  which, 
like  the  bronze  lions,  comes  from  the  hand  of  the  late 
J.  M.  Swan,  while  at  the  sides  are  spaces  ready  to  be 
filled  with  bronze  panels  depicting  actual  scenes  in  the 
life  of  Rhodes. 

Thus  enshrined,  it  may  well  be  that  : 

His  great  and  brooding  spirit  still  shall  quicken  and  control, 
Living  he  was  the  land,  and  dead  his  soul  shall  be  her  soul. 


519 

34— ( 


INDEX 


ADEN,  61 

Administrator,   Provincial,    147 

Agriculture,  its  Possibilities  for 
Immigrants,  490 

,  State  Aid  to,  357-61  ;  tables 

concerning,  358,  360 

,  Union  Department  of,  361- 

4  ;  tables  concerning, 
361,  362 

Agricultural  Education,  366  (see 
also  Education) 

Albany  Settlers,  The,  104 

Almeida,  Francis  d'.  Governor- 
General  of  Portuguese  India, 
killed  by  Hottentots,  77 

Amiens,  Peace  of,  The,  97 

Angora  Goats,  333,  339 

Architecture,   515,  518 

Appeal  Court,  166,  440 

Army  (see  Defence) 

Asiatics  within  the  Union,  162 

Assagai,  The,  25 

Assembly,  House  of.  The,  136-9, 
145 ;  disagreements  with  the 
Senate,  146 ;  salaries  of 
speaker  and  members,  146 

"  Axe,  War  of  The,"  27,  38 

BADEN-POWELL,  GEN.,  191 

Bailey,  Sir  Abe,  123 

Baird,  General  Sir  David,  98 

Bamangwatos,  The,  30 

Banks,  383-7 

,  Table  concerning,  385 

Bantam,  Java,  King  of,  receives 
Sir  J.  Lancaster,  78 

Bantu,  The,  15,  19,  22,  23,  30-33, 
38,  39,  41,  43,  45,  57,  108; 
Military  and  Industrial  Tribes,  31 

Barnato,  B.  J.  (see  Mines) 

Barolongs,  The,  30 

Base  Metal  (see  Mines) 

Basil  of  Alexandria,  58 

Basutoland,  4,  44,  207,  239,  240  ; 
described,  208 ;  people  and 
history,  209-12  ;  administra- 
tion, 212-14  ;  taxes,  214  ; 


Basutoland —  (contd . ) 

liquor  traffic  prohibited,  215  ; 
agriculture,  215  ;  labour  sta- 
tistics, 216;  missionary  enter- 
prise, 216  ;  means  of  communi- 
cation and  transport,  217 

Basutos,  The,  19,  30,  32,  33,  34,  44 

Batlapins,  The,  30 

Batavia,  79,  92 

Bechuanaland,  40,  42,  44,  239, 
240,  380,  496  ;  incorporated  by 
Cape  Colony,  43  ;  protectorate 
proclaimed  (1885),  115;  posi- 
tion and  area,  217  ;  how  go- 
verned, 218;  people,  chiefs  and 
tribes,  219 ;  cattle-ranching, 
219  :  exports  and  imports, 
220;  finances,  220,  239,  240 
(see  also  Mines) 

Bechuanas,  The,  19,  44 

Beira,  181 

Beit  Bequest  (see  Rhodesia, 
Southern) 

,  Mr.    Alfred,  468     see    also 

Mines)  ;    Mr.  Otto,  468 

Bent,  Mr.  Theodore,  34,  52 

Berea,  Mt.,  33 

Bills  "  reserved,"  144 

Birkenhead,  Wreck  of  the  trans- 
port, 39 

Blaauwkrantz  River,  29 

Bloemfontein,  7,  9,  272 ;  Con- 
vention of,  39,  109 

Boards,  Local,  419 

Boers,  The,  and  Kafirs,  28,  29  ; 
Settlements  of,  37;  of  the 
Transvaal,  40,  42  ;  of  the 
Orange  Free  State,  40 ;  in 
Swaziland,  221 

Botha,  Gen.,   120,  335,  462,  503 

Brand,  Hon.  R.  H.,  122 

British  E.  Africa,  2  ;  smallness  of 
the  population,  102 

rule  in  South  Africa,  Com- 
mercial expansion  and 
growth  of  European 
population  under,  99 


521 


INDEX 


Buluwayo,  10,  172,  175,  177,  182, 
195  et  sqq.,  260,  272  ;  "as  safe 
as  London,"  188 

"  Burghers,  Free,"  The  original, 
at  the  Cape,  80 

Bushmen,  The.  19 

Byrne  Settlement,  The,  111 

CAIRO,  2,  61 

Cape,  The,  5,  6,  23,  39,  41,  147, 
233,  237,  239,  240,  281,  338, 
343  et  sqq.,  356,  358,  364,  383, 
390,  395-7,  399,  400,  405,  420, 
422,  476  ;  occupation  by  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company, 
66  ;  by  the  English  ditto,  66  ; 
European  population  in  1687 
and  1691,  86;  first  occupation 
by  the  English,  97 ;  second 
ditto,  98  ;  statistics  of  (table), 
153;  see  also  Diaz;  Drake; 
Government,  Local ;  Malays 
at  the  Cape  ;  Mines  ;  Riebeck  ; 
Stell) 

Cape  to  Cairo  Railway,  The,  172, 
176,  193 

Cape  Town,  2,  9,  124  ;  delegates 
at,  124,  277,  375,  376,  422,  427  ; 
position,  432  ;  suburbs,  432  ; 
public  buildings,  432  ;  anti- 
quities, 432  (see  also  Ports, 
Chief  ;  Railways) 

Carnarvon,  Lord,  41,  42  ;  his 
S.A.  Act,  114 

Casalis,  Mr.,  33 

Cathcart,  Sir  George,  33 

Cattle  Ranching  (see  Bechuana- 
land) 

Central  African  Protectorate,  The, 
1 

Cereals,  335-337 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  118,  188, 
434 

Chartered  Company,  Territories 
of  the,  171  ;  its  objects,  177  ; 
administration  of  funds,  179  ; 
changes  in  powers  and  per- 
sonnel, 187  ;  and  Southern 
Rhodesia,  204 

Chelmsford,  Lord,  29 

Chinese  Labour,  228;  abolition 
of,  229 

Churchill,  Lord  Randolph  (see 
Mines) 


Civil  Service,  157,  496 

Climate,  2,  5 

Coal  mines  (see  Mines)  ;  Natal, 
Shortage  of  labour  at,  246 

Colquhoun,  Mr.  A.  R.,  173 

Columbus,  Christopher,  64 

Commerce  and  Industries,  Minis- 
try of,  The,  382 

Constitution,  130  et  sqq. 

Coode,  Sir  John,  254 

Copper  mines,  Namaqualand, 
Shortage  of  native  labour  at, 
247,  249 

Corn,  Backwardness  in  produc- 
tion of,  332  (with  table),  336 

Cotton,  354 

Curtis,  Mr.  Lionel,  122,  125,  417 

Customs  Union  Convention  re- 
newed (1906),  122 

DE  BEERS  Mines  (see  Mines) 

Debt,  The  Union  (with  tables), 
394-8  ;  table  concerning,  400  ; 
actual  v.  nominal  indebtedness, 
398-402 

Defence,  Ministry  of,  445  ;  Citizen 
Army,  446 ;  Defence  Forces, 
List  of,  448  ;  Military  service 
and  peace  training,  449  ;  Union 
Defence  Act  (with  table),  449  ; 
Permanent  Force,  450  ;  Coast 
Garrison  Force,  451  ;  Citizen 
Force  :  its  three  divisions,  451  ; 
Active  Citizen  Force,  451-4  ; 
Citizen  Force  Reserve,  454  ; 
National  Reserve,  454  ;  Royal 
Naval  Volunteer  Reserve,  454  ; 
Rifle  Associations,  455  ;  Cadet 
training,  456  ;  military  instruc- 
tion, 456  ;  service  in  time  of 
war,  457 

De  Gama,  Vasco,  61,  64 

Delagoa  Bay,  258  (see  also  Por- 
tuguese in  East  Africa) 

Derby,  Lord,  Colonial  Secretary, 
115 

Dervishes,  The,  29 

Diamonds,  14  ;  discovery  of,  40  ; 
at  Kimberley  (1870),  114;  (see 
also  Mines) 

Diaz,  Bartholomew,  rounds  the 
Cape,  63 

Dingaan,  "  King  "  of  the  Zulus, 
37,  108 


522 


INDEX 


"  Dingaan's  Day,"  108 

Douglas,  Mr.  Arthur,  of  Albany, 
113,  342 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  rounds  the 
Cape,  77 

Drakenberg  Range,  The,  4 

Duncan,  Mr.  Patrick,  125,   159 

Durban,  10,  258,  259,  427  ;  fine 
harbour,  437  ;  buildings,  437  ; 
botanical  gardens,  437  ;  resi- 
dential quarter,  437  ;  surround- 
ings, 437  ;  climate,  438  (see  also 
Ports,  Chief) 

Durban,  Sir  B.,  36,  39 

Dutch,  The,  in  South  Africa,   15, 
17 

Afrikander  stock,  The ;  how 

formed,  86 

-  East  India  Company,  The, 
78-93  ;  constitution  of,  79 ; 
active  colonisation  of  the  Cape, 
84  ;  Abolition  of,  92  ;  adminis- 
tration summed  up  by  Judge 
Watermeyer,  95  ;  (see  also 
Cape,  Riebeck) 

EAST  Coast,  The,  239 

London,  422,  427  (see  also 

Ports,  Chief) 

Education  :  Primary  and  Se- 
condary, 458-60 ;  Bi-lingual 
Question,  460-2  ;  Higher  Edu- 
cation, 463  ;  Aims  and  policy 
of  the  Department,  464-7  ; 
colleges,  tables  concerning,  465, 
466  ;  university,  467-9  ;  pro- 
fessional training  (medical,  min- 
ing, etc.,  teaching),  470-2  ; 
agricultural  colleges,  various 
(with  tables),  472;  native 
education,  478^181  ;  table  con- 
cerning, 479  ;  higher  education 
for  natives,  481  (see  also  Agri- 
cultural Education) 

Egypt,  2,  8,  16,  47  ;  invaded  by 
Saracens,  60 

Electoral    System,   The,    139-142 

Electors,  Qualifications  for,  in  the 
several  Provinces,  140 

Elphinstone,  Admiral,  occupies 
the  Cape,  96 

Emigrants,  Huguenot,  to  the 
Cape,  86  ;  amalgamation  with 
Dutch,  89 


English  East  India  Company, 
The,  77  ;  receives  charter  from 
Queen  Elizabeth,  78  (see  also 
Cape) 

Ethiopian  or  Separatist  Church 
Movement,  The,  482 

Executive  Committee  (Provin- 
cial), The  Union,  149 

Expenditure  (with  tables),  411- 
14  ;  Provincial,  159 

Exports,  372,  374,  376  (table), 
378  ;  and  Imports,  372  ;  tables, 
373,  379 

FAKU,  38 

Financial   Relations  Commission, 

The,  159;    Majority  Report  of , 

160  ;    Minority  ditto,  161 
Fiscal  Policy,  379 
Fischer,     Mr.     Abraham,     Prime 

Minister  of  the  Orange   River 

Colony  (1907),  120 
Fish    River,    The,    Dividing    line 

between     Kafirs     and     Dutch, 

92 

Fitz-Herbert,  Capt.  Humphrey,  78 
Fitzpatrick,   Sir  Percy   (see   Jock 

of  the  Bushveld) 
Five  Lectures  on  the  Emigration  of 

the  Dutch  Farmers,  etc.,  quoted, 

28 

Five  Years  in  Kafirland,  quoted, 
Forbes,  Major,  10  [28 

Forestry,    368-70 ;      Department 

(with  table),  370 

Franchise,  The  Union,   140  ;    for 
natives,  126 

in  Transvaal   418 

Free    Republic    declared    (1795), 

96 

Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  4 1 ,  114 
Froude,  J.  A.,  114 
Fruit-growing,  355-7 

GAMES  and  sports,  509 
Gaika,  38 

Gaikas  and  Galekas,  41 
Geology,    11-13 
German  territories,  1 
Germany  in  South- West  Africa,  42 
Glen  Gray  Act,  The,  422 
Gold,  14  (see  also  Mines) 
Goldfield     discovered     at      Wit- 
watersrand,  114 


523 


34A— (2139) 


INDEX 


Good  Hope,  Cape  of,  4,  17  ;  why 
so  named,  63 

Government,  Local,  in  the  Trans- 
vaal, 416;  in  the  Cape,  420; 
native,  421  ;  tables  concerning, 
422  ;  in  Transkeian  territories, 
423 ;  in  the  Free  State  and 
Natal,  425 

Governor-General,  The,  133  et  sqq. 

Grahamstown,  104,  422 

"  Great  Trek,"  The,  37,  106  et  sqq. 

Grey,  Earl,  188 

,  Sir  George,  39.  Ill 

Griqualand  West,  40 

Griquas,  The,  38 

Gwanda,  195 

Gwelo,  195,  199 

Haarlem,  Wreck  of  the,  79 

Harbours,  Expenditure  on,  258 

Hatasou,  Queen,  Monuments  of 
the  Temple  of,  The,  47 

Hereros,  The,  30 

Herodotus'  account  of  Phoenicians 
quoted,  56  ;  ditto  of  Ethiopia, 
quoted,  58 

Hintza,  36 

Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  50 

Hoal,  Mr.  W.  T.,  Postmaster- 
General,  273 

Hofmeyr,  Mr.  Jan,  124 

Hottentots,  The,  19,  21,  57,  81  ; 
grant  districts  to  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  83  ;  Re- 
gulations for  the,  104  ;  rescin- 
ded, 105  (see  also  Riebeck) 

House,   Afrikander,   The,   516-18 

House  of  Representatives,  The, 
142 

Houtman,  Admiral,  78 

IMMIGRANTS  :  the  kind  required, 
488 ;  sources  of  information 
for,  489  (see  also  Agriculture) 

Irnpi,  An,  26 

Imports,  372,  374  ;  tables  con- 
cerning, 375,  377 

Infante  Henry  of  Portugal,  62  ; 
promotes  geographical  research. 

Intoxicants,    Sale   of,    to   natives 

forbidden,  215 
Iron  (see  Mines) 
Irrigation  and  Water  Supply,  364 


Isandhlwana,  Loss  of  Regiment 
at,  28 

JAMES  I,  King,  78 

Jameson,  Sir  E.  S.,  123,  174 

Raid,  The,  183  (see  also 

Rhodes) 

Janssens,  General,  98 

Java  Monopolies,  80 

Jock  of  the  Bushveld,  511;  quoted, 
514 

Johannesburg,  7,  9.  259,  272,  277, 
398,  418,  427  ;  survey  of.  426  ; 
finances,  428-30  ;  planted  with 
trees,  430  ;  principal  buildings, 
431  (note)  (see  also  Mines, 
Railways) 

John  II  of  Portugal,  63 

Justice,  Administration  of,  162  ; 
Roman-Dutch  and  English 
law,  439  ;  Court  of  Appeal,  440  ; 
Annual  Report  of  the  Department 
of  Justice  for  1910.  quoted,  441  ; 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  442  (see 
also  Supreme  Court  of  South 
Africa) 

KAFIR  Invasion  of  the  Cape,  The, 
106 

Kafirs,  The,  23  ;  characteristics 
of,  24-30,  36 

Kaffraria,  39 

,  Colonisation  of  British,  112 

Karoos,  The,  5 

Kaross,  The,  25 

Kenilworth,  model  village  planned 
by  Rhodes,  298 

Ketchwayo,  25,  32,  33,  41 

Khama,  33,  34.  219 

Kharabit,  Sabaean  king,  58 

Khartum,  10 

Kimberley,  9,  226,  247,  249,  259, 
272,  427,  383,  422;  Rhodes's 
work  for,  290  ;  monument  to 
citizens  killed  in  siege,  290 ; 
Mr.  Kipling's  inscription,  290 
(see  also  Diamonds,  Mines) 

King  William's  Town,  422 

King's  Assent,  The,  necessary  to 
legislation,  143 

Knob-kerrie,  26 

Knysna,  The,  5 

Kok,  Adam,  38 

Kosa   tribes,    The,    38 


524 


INDEX 


Kraal,  A  Kafir,  25 

Kruger,  President,  42,  117,  223; 

his    great     aim,     116;      arms 

burghers,  116 

LABOUR,  White,  499-501  (see  also 
Mines) 

L'Afrique  Orientale,  quoted,  65 

Lancaster,  Sir  Jas.,  77  (see  also 
Bantam) 

Land  Settlement,  Government's 
Scheme  of,  The,  501-3 

Laurence,  Sir  Percival,  159 

Libraries  (see  Museums  and  Li- 
braries) ;  table  concerning,  509 

Limpopo  River,  3,  4,  5 

Literature,  510-15 

Living,  Cost  of,  391,  494-6  ;  mea- 
sures to  reduce,  496-9  ;  table 
concerning,  496 

Livingstone,  David,  40,  53,  60,  219 

Loan  funds,  392,  394  (table) 

Lobengula,  172  et  sqq. 

Lobito  Bay,  250 

Locations  (Reserves),  234 

Locusts,  365 

London,  Convention  of,  The,  115 

,  East  Coast  route  from,  252 

,  West  Coast,  251 

Lyttelton  Constitution,  The,  119; 
annulled,  120 

MACKENZIE,  John,  31,  219 

MacMahon  Arbitration,   The,   67 

Madagascar,  58 

Maf eking,  191,  220 

Magistrates',  Resident,  Courts, 
170 

Mails,  251 

Maize,  353 

Makalanga,  The,  30 

Ma-Karanga,  The,  53,  54 

Malan,  Mr.  F.  S.,  123  ;  Letter  on 
Education  by,  461 

Malays  at  the  Cape,  The,  90 
(note),  95,  226 

Maritzburg,  10,  259 

Masapa,  54 

Mashonaland,  47,  195 ;  occupa- 
tion of  (1890)  The,  43,  173 

Matabele,  The,  19,  23,  30  (see  also 
Rhodesia) 

War,  The,  174 

Matabeleland,  195 


Merriman,  Mr.  John  X.,  Premier 
of  Cape  Colony  (1908),  121 

Milner,  Lord,  223,  269,  334,  335, 
357,  416,  459,  497 

Milner' s,  Lord,  Administration 
(1897-1905),  118;  work,  121,125 

Milton,  Sir  W.,  202 

Mines  :  Predominance  of  mining 
industry  (table),  279  ;  gold  a 
greater  influence  than  dia- 
monds, 279  ;  iron,  coal,  copper, 
silver  and  tin,  280  ;  coal  areas, 
280 ;  quantity  and  value  of 
coal  produced  (tables),  281, 
282 ;  progress  of  Transvaal 
coal  industry,  282  (table)  ; 
Transvaal  silver  and  base  metal 
outputs  (tables),  283 

Diamond  Mines  :  First  discovered 
diamond,  283  ;  "  Star  of  South 
Africa,"  284  ;  wet  diggings, 
284  ;  diamonds  discovered  at 
Dutoitspan,  Bultfontein  farm, 
"  old  "  De  Beers  and  Kimberley 
mines,  284  ;  hardships  at  "  Dry 
Diggings,"  284  ;  value  of 
"  blue  ground,"  285;  Rhodes's 
great  service  to  Kimberley,  286  ; 
introduction  of  shaft-sinking, 
286 ;  danger  of  over-produc- 
tion, 286  et  sqq.  ;  Rhodes  and 
Barnato  come  to  diamond 
fields,  288;  De  Beers  and 
Barnato  Companies  formed, 
288;  Lord  Rothschild  and 
Mr.  Alfred  Beit,  288  ;  Barnato 
comes  to  terms  with  Rhodes, 
288  ;  amalgamation  of  four  dia- 
mond mines  and  purchase  of 
a  fifth,  289 ;  Rhodes's  work 
praised  by  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill,  289  ;  an  "  Empire- 
builder,"  289.  Processes  of 
diamond  mines :  Extracting 
"  blue  ground,"  291  ;  disinte- 
gration, 291  ;  washing,  292  ; 
separation,  292  ;  illicit  diamond 
buying,  293-5 ;  condition  of 
natives  employed  by  De  Beers, 
295  ;  compound  of  Kimberley 
mine,  author's  impressions  of, 
295-7 ;  number  of  employ6s 
in  Kimberley  mines  (table), 
297  ;  diamond  production  of 


525 


INDEX 


Mines — (contd.) 

Cape,  298,  Free  State,  299, 
Transvaal  (with  tables),  300-3  ; 
Premier  Mine  a  rival  to  De 
Beers  Company,  303  ;  higher 
quality  of  De  Beers  production, 
303 

Gold  Mines  :  Majority  of  South 
African  gold  produced  in  the 
Transvaal,  304  ;  minor  gold- 
fields  :  Bechuanaland,  Cape, 
Natal,  Southern  Rhodesia,  Swa- 
ziland, 305  ;  Transvaal  output, 
306 ;  discovery  of  the  Wit- 
watersrand  goldfields,  306-8 ; 
consequent  growth  of  Johan- 
nesburg, 308-310 ;  tables  il- 
lustrating expansion  of  gold 
industry,  310-12  ;  importance 
of  gold  industry,  313  ;  charac- 
ter of  deposits,  313-15  ;  methods 
of  recovery,  315  ;  paucity  of 
yield  per  ton  (with  tables), 
316-19  ;  life  of  the  Rand,  319  ; 
present  position  of  Transvaal 
gold  industry  (with  table), 
321-3  ;  labour  employed,  323 
(table)  ;  European  labour  (with 
table),  324  ;  native  labour 
(with  tables),  325-329 

Mines,  Taxation  of,  329-31 

Missionaries  (see  Livingstone, 
Moffat,  Mackenzie,  Portuguese 
in  East  Africa)  ;  and  native 
races,  104  (see  also  Basutoland), 
and  Boers,  104 

Mist,  Jacob  de,  97 

Moffat,  Robert,  219 

Mohair  Industry,  The,  113 

Mombasa,  58 

Money  bills,  145 

Monomatapa,  The,  54 

Moselekatze,  29,  33,  108 

Mosenthal,   Adolph,   340 

Mossel  Bay  (see  Ports,  Lesser) 

Moshesh,  33,  38  ;  his  communica- 
tion to  the  British  lines,  33 

Mozambique,  5,  65,  67,  76,  239 
(see  also  Portuguese  in  East 

Murray,  Sir  George,  159     [Africa) 

Museums  and  Libraries,  507-9 


NANTES,  Revocation  of  Edict  of, 
85 


Napoleonic  Wars,  Dutch  posses- 
sions taken  by  England  during 
the,  98  (note) 

Natal,  5/6,  7,  9,  23,  37,  39,  44,  147, 
148,  153,  233,  237,  239,  240, 
281,  338,  348  et  sqq.  ;  356,  358, 
390,  395-7,  399,  400,  405,  425, 
444,  459,  476  ;  a  British  colony, 
111;  receives  constitution,  111 
(see  also  Coal  Mines,  Govern- 
ment, Local,  Mines,  Railways). 

National  Convention  meets  at 
Durban,  124 

Native  affairs,  Administration  of, 
44,  162,  421 

and    coloured    labour,    how 

paid  (table),  250 

and    Nationality    problems, 

Difficulty  of,  100  et  sqq. 

labour   (see   Mines  ;     Trans- 

vaal) 

other  than  Mines  and 

Agriculture   (table),    248- 
50 

policy  of  Great  Britain,  Five 

Stages    of     the,     35-45  ; 

reflections  on,  45  (see  also 

Franchise) 

Territories,  1,  207  ;  vote,  139, 

Nyassaland,  British,  2,  239     [481 

Ons  Land,  123 

Ophir,  King  Solomon's,  47,  50  ; 
identified  with  Arabia  Felix,  55 

Orange  Free  State,  The,  4,  5,  6,  9, 
37,  38,  147,  148,  153,  237,  239, 
240,  277,  281,  333,  335,  338,  358. 
444;  formation  of,  110;  res- 
ponsible government  estab- 
lished (1907)  in,  120  ;  reverts  to 
present  name,  131  (see  also 
Government,  Local  ;  Mines) 

Orange  River,  The,  22  ;  Sove- 
reignty, The,  110 

Ostrich  Farming,  113,  333,  341-43 

Ovampos,  30 

Overbeke,  Aernout  Van,  83,  85 

PALAPYE,  34  (note),  219 

Parliament  (see  Assembly,  Quin- 
quennial Allocation,  Senate)  ; 
powers  of  the  Union,  165 

Peddie,  Fort,  Attack  on,  described, 
27 


526 


INDEX 


Phoenicians,  The,  in  Africa,  48,  52 
Ploughing,  Need  for  mechanical, 

337 
Plettenberg,        Governor       Van, 

91 

Police,  The,  443-5 
Pondoland,  44  ;  annexed  by  Cape 

Colony,  43 
Pondos,  The,  30,  38 
Population,    1    (see    also    British 

Population) 

,  European  and  native  com- 
pared, 389-91  ;  tables, 
390,  427 

statistics,    European,    232 ; 

native,  232  (with  table) 
Port  Elizabeth,  104,  114,  375,  376, 

383,  422,  427 
Ports,   Chief  :     Cape   Town,   254, 

256  ;    Durban,  257  ;    East  Lon- 
don, 255  ;   Port  Elizabeth,  255  ; 
List  of,  253 

Ports,  Lesser  :  Mossel  Bay,  257  ; 
Port  Alfred,  258;  Port  St. 
John's,  258 ;  Saldanha  Bay, 

257  ;    Simonstown,  258 
Portuguese,  The,  in  East  Africa, 

1,  53,  66  ;  spread  of  power,  65  ; 
Jesuit  and  Dominican  mission- 
aries, 67,  69  ;  control  of  gold 
mines  granted  to  King  of 
Portugal,  67  ;  Delagoa  Bay 
won  to  the  Portuguese,  67 ; 
slave  trade  and  decline  of  Por- 
tuguese influence,  68 ;  Silveira, 
Portuguese  missionary  mur- 
dered by  order  of  the  Monomo- 
tapa,  69 ;  further  activity  of 
Portuguese  missionaries,  70 ; 
causes  of  Portuguese  decline  in 
East  Africa,  71  ;  trading  mono- 
poly granted  to  Banyan  Tra- 
ders, 71  ;  Crown  grants  to 
Portuguese  women,  73 ;  Mo- 
zambique" Junta  "  established, 

74  ;  friction  with  Great  Britain, 

75  ;   Anglo-Portuguese  Conven- 
tion of   June   llth,    1891,   75; 
improved  prospects,  75 

Natives  in  Transvaal  (table), 

240 

Post  and  Telegraph  Systems, 
273-5  ;  revenue  and  ex- 
penditure (table),  274 


Post  Office   Savings   Bank,    The, 

275,  384-6  ;   progress  of  (table), 

386 
Pre-historic  Rhodesia  quoted,  52, 

53,54 

Press,  Native,  The,  483 
Pretoria,  7,  9,  272  ;  Convention  of 

(1881),     115;      position,    434; 

Government       House,        434  ; 

finances,  434  ;  public  buildings 

to  be  erected,  435 
Price,  Sir  T.  R.,  122  (note),  251 
Pringle,  Thos.,  20  ;  poems  quoted, 

"  Song  of  the  Wild  Bushman," 

20;      "The     Hottentot,"     21; 

"  The  Kafir,"  24  ;  "  Mackanna's 

Gathering,"     26 ;      his    poetry 

generally,  510 
Provincial   Administrations,  147~ 

152 
Ptolemaeus,  Claudius,  his  account 

of  Africa,  59 
Public  Service  Commission,  The, 

157 

Pungwe  River,  5 
Punt,  Land  of,  The,  47 

QUINQUENNIAL  allocation  of  mem- 
bers, The,  140 

RAILWAY    and    Harbour    Board, 

The,   155-7,  251 
Railways  :    the  first,  259  ;    Dela- 

§oa  Bay  Line,  260 ;  Natal 
ystem,  260  ;  stimulus  of  gold 
discovery,  260  ;  State  railways. 
261  ;  lengths  of  railways  com- 
pared with  those  in  other  divi- 
sions of  the  Empire  (table),  261  ; 
finances,  262  ;  reduction  of 
rates,  263 ;  economic  impor- 
tance of  railways  in  South 
Africa,  265  ;  number  of  railway 
and  harbour  employes,  266 ; 
statistics  of  progress,  269 ; 
comforts,  270  ;  Capetown  rail- 
way service  ("  Zambezi  Ex- 
press," "  Rhodesian  Express," 
"  Transvaal,  Limited," 
"  Orange,  Limited,"  "  Imperial 
Mail  Train  de  Luxe "),  271  ; 
Service  between  Johannesburg 
and  Capetown,  272  ;  lengths 
of  journeys  (table),  272 


527 


INDEX 


Rainfall,  6-8 

Rand,  The,  115,  147  ;  gold  mines, 
226,  228  (see  also  Mines) 

Redistribution,  Automatic,  119, 
137 

Religion,  504-7  ;  tables  concern- 
ing, 505,  506 

Resident  Magistrate,  The,  his 
duties,  419 

Revenue,  The  Union  (with  tables), 
402-5  ;  Provincial,  159 

Revenues  of  South  African  Re- 
public, raised  by  gold  industry, 
116 

Rhodes,  Cecil,  2,  172  et  sqq.,  422, 
518;  founds  British 
South  African  Company, 
116;  effects  occupation 
of  Mashonaland,  117;  con- 
cerned in  Jameson  Raid, 
117  (see  also  Kimberley, 
Mines) 

Memorial,  The,  518-20 

— -  Scholarships,  The  (with  ta- 
ble), 473-8  ;  (see  also  Appendix, 
484-7) 

Rhodesia,  1.  3,  5,  10,  17,  164,  352, 
380;  gold  mines  of,  51  ;  outside 
the  Union,  171  ;  development 
of,  176  ;  Means  of  communica- 
tion and  transport,  180  ;1  con- 
struction of  railways,  181  ; 
nourishing  condition,  ,  182  ; 
Jameson  Raid,  183 ;  native 
rising,  1 83  ;  rinderpest  or  cattle 
fever,  183 ;  rising  suppressed, 
186 ;  new  system  of  native 
administration,  187  ;  submis- 
sion of  Matabele  chiefs,  189 ; 
gold  output  (1900),  191;  first 
train  crosses  Victoria  Falls- 
Bridge  (1905),  192 

,  Northern,   193* 

,  Southern,  43,   53,  67,  239, 

240,  281,  492,  493  ;  population, 
area,  railways,  trade,  194  ;  gold 
export  (1909),  194  ;  govern- 
ment, 194  ;  distribution  of 
European  population  (tables), 
195  ;  native  labour,  196  ;  edu- 
cation, 196  ;  Beit  Bequest,  197  ; 
medical  provision,  197  ;  cli- 
mate, 198  ;  tables  concerning, 
199-201  ;  no  nationality 


Rhodesia — (contd.) 

difficulty,"    202  ;    attitude  to- 
wards   the  Union,  203  ;    sport 
(note),  205  (see  also  Mines) 
Riebeck,  Jan  Antony  Van,  estab- 
lishes naval  station  at  the  Cape, 
80;  quoted,  81 ;  negotiates  with 
Hottentots,  83  ;  character,  84 
Rinderpest,  183,  339 
Romans  in  Egypt,  The,  58 
Rothschild,  Lord  (see  Mines) 
Ruined    Cities    of    Mashonaland, 
The,  quoted,  34,  52 

SAB^ANS,  The,  58  ;  in  Rhodesia, 
53,  55,  in  South  Arabia,  56 

Sabi  River,  The,  5,  51 

Sabia,  54 

Salisbury,  10,  182,  195 

Saldanha  Bay  (see  Ports,  Lesser 
et  sqq.) 

Sand     River,     Convention,     The 

Sandile,  38  [(1852),  39,  109 

Santa  Cruz,  63 

Sauer,  The  Hon.  J.  W.,  251 

Schreiner,  Olive,  quoted,  87  et  sqq. 
(see  also  Story  of  an  A  frican  Farm) 

Selborne,  Lord,  High  Commis- 
sioner (1905),  121,  123 

Selous,  Mr.  F.  C.,  185 

Senate,  The,  134-6,  145  ;  salaries 
of  President  and  Members,  146 

Sheba,  The  Queen  of,  50,  55 

Shepstone,  Sir  Theophilus,  1 14 

Shipping  Ring  Question,  498 

Silver  (see  Mines) 

Simonstown  (see  Ports,  Lesser) 

Slaghter's  Nek,  Rebellion  of, 
The,  104 

Slavery  abolished  (1833),  105 

Slave  Trade,  The  (see  Portuguese 
in  East  Africa) 

Sluysken,  Commissary,  92 

Smith,  Mr.  F.  B.,  122  (note),  335 

Smuts,  Gen.  J.  C.,  123,  448,  452, 
501 

Solomon,  King  (see  Ophir,  Sheba, 
Tharshish) 

Somerset,  Lord   Chas.,  22 

Soudan,  The,  2 

Sports  (see  Games  and  Sports) 

Steenekamp,  Mrs.  Anna  Eliza- 
beth, her  "  quaint  and  artless 
record,"  107 


528 


INDEX 


Stell,  Simon  van  der,  appointed  to 

command  of  Cape,  84 
Stellenbosch    founded,  85 
Stock  diseases,  365 

raising,  338 

Story  of  an  African  Farm,  The, 
quoted  and  discussed, 
511-514 

of  South  Africa,  The,  quoted, 

29 

Stud  Farms,  367 

Sugar  Industry,  The,  348-50 

Sunshine  and  Storm  in  Rhodesia 
quoted,  182,  185 

Supreme  Court  of  S.A.,  The,  140 
its  constitution,  166  ;  Appellate 
Division  of,  166,  168,  170 
Provincial  Divisions  of,  167 
168,  170;  Judges  of,  168 
Circuit  Courts,  170 

Swaziland,    44,    207,    239,    240 
position,    220  ;      people,    221 
Swazi  Convention  (1890),  222 
placed    under    control    of    the 
High  Commissioner  (1907),  224 
finances  and  mines,  224  (see  also 
Mines) 

Swazis,  The,  30 

Swellendam,  91 

TAAL,  The,  National  language  of 

the  Boer,  90 
Table  Bay,  254 

Mountain,  219,  431 

Tables  (see  also  separate  headings), 

153,  161,  195,  199,  200,  201. 
217,  233,  237,  239.  240,  245. 
249,  250,  253,  261,  272,  273. 
274,  279,  281,  282,  283,  297. 
299,  301,  302,  305,  310-12,  319, 
323,  324,  325.  326.  328,  332, 
335,  336,  344,  347,  358,  360, 
361,  362,  373,  376-9,  385-7, 
390,  393-7,  403-5,  407-12,  449, 
465,  466,  476,  479 
Taxation,  406  ;  actual  v.  nominal 
(with  table),  406-8;  native, 
408;  tables  concerning,  409, 
410 

Tea-planting,  350 
Telegraphy,  Wireless,  275 
Telephones,  276-278  (tables) 
Tembu,  The,  30 
Temperature,  8-11 


Tharshish,  Solomon's  trade  with, 
85 

Theal,  Dr.,  30,  86 

,  his  History,  510 

Three  Lectures  on  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  .Cape  Town,  quoted, 
92 

Tin  (see  Mines) 

Tobacco  industry,  The,  352 

Toro,  54 

Torrend,  Father,  59 

Trafalgar,  Battle  of,  98 

Traffic,  Value  of  S.  African  (table), 
253 

Transkeian  territories.  General 
Council  of,  423-5  (see  also 
Government,  Local) 

Transvaal,  The,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  14, 
41,  42,  147,  153,  233,  237,  239, 
277,  281,  312,  323,  333,  335. 
338,  352,  354,  356,  358,  364, 
370,  390,  395-7,  399,  400,  405, 
416,  419,  425,  444,  459,  496; 
formation  of,  110;  annexation 
of  (1877),  114;  Responsible 
Government  established  in, 
(1906),  120 ;  mining  industry 
of,  native  labour  in,  238-40 
(tables)  ;  why  increased,  241  ; 
labour  registry  offices  estab- 
lished, 242  ;  short  fall  of  native 
labour  in  1910  (table),  245  (see 
also  Mines ;  Portuguese  in 
E.  Africa) 

Tshaka,  32,  33 

Tuli,  199,  200 

UGANDA,  2 

Umbandine,  The  late  Chief,  208, 
221  et  sqq. 

Umtali,  195,  199,  200 

Unification  adopted  by  the  Con- 
vention, 126 

Union,  Birth  of,  121  et  sqq. 

Constitution,      The,       130 ; 

Draft  and  amendments, 
127  ;  comes  into  operation 
(1910),  129 

Electoral       System,       136- 

142 

• Executive,  The,  131-3 

• Judicature,  The,  166 

Legislature,  The,  133-6 

Ministry,  The  first,  129 


529 


INDEX 


Union  Parliament  opened  by  the 
Duke  of  Connaught,  The,  Dec. 
4th,  1910,  129 

VAAL  River,  The,  22 

Valdesi,  The,  85  (note) 

Vauban,  515 

Veld,  The,  5 

Victoria  Falls,  The,  17,  172,  195, 
201,  272  (see  also  Rhodesia) 

Viljoen,  Dr.,  Education  Memo- 
randum by,  460 

Voters,  Coloured,  139,  481 

WALFISH  Bay,  22 

"  War    of    the    Axe,    The "    (see 

"  Axe,  War  of  the  ") 
,  The,    in    S.A.    (Oct.     llth, 

1899 May  31st,  1902),  117; 

terms  of  peace,  117 
Ward,  Mrs.   Harriet,  quoted,  27, 

28 

Warren,  Sir  Chas.,  42 
Waterboer,  40 


Wattle,  Black,  Cultivation  of, 
351 

Weights  and  Measures  (table),  387 

William  I  of  Holland,  92 

Windham,  Mr.  W.,  on  the  Squat- 
ting Native,  235 

Wine  Production,  343-8;  tables 
illustrating,  344,  347 

Witwatersrand,  14,  247  ;  goldfield 
discovered  at,  114  (see  also 
Mines) 

Wool,  Export  of  (table  with),  332 

Industry,  The.  113 

XOSAS,  The,  23,  30 

ZAMBESIA,  239 

Zambezi,  River,   1,  4 

Zimbabwe,  The  Great,  53 

Zulu  War,  The,  32 

Zululand,  239,  240,  496  ;  annexed 

by  Natal,  43 
Zulus,  The,  19,  23,  30,  37.  41,  114 


THE    END 


Puss  of   Isaac  Pitman  &  Sons,  Bath,  England. 

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